Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two issues. First, I call on the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills to discuss education. I am a little perturbed by yesterday's budget in terms of what it does for education. It is quite clear that many of the opportunities that were open to the Government were not taken. Clearly, the Minister has shown in the recent past that he has no interest in equality when it comes to teachers' pay. He also has no interest in free education, which is quite clear from the budget announcements that were made yesterday. There has been no effort to reduce the cost of going to school, no interest in raising the capitation that schools receive and no interest in alleviating the cost of going to college for students. I would appreciate an opportunity to have an conversation with the Minister on these matters. It is quite depressing that the new communications unit will receive €5 million. That amount of money would have done a huge amount to pay for schoolbook rental schemes in primary schools in this country.

Second, I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to debate the status of a Government document launched four years ago, entitled the Right to Read campaign. The campaign focuses on literacy and achieving literacy excellence in every local authority in the State. The document acknowledges the fact the library system, the housing stock and the environment in which children are raised has a huge influence over educational attainment. The document is called the Right to Read campaign because the State has acknowledged that every child has a right to read.

I raise this matter because there is the possibility that a library in Donaghmede in my constituency will close in June 2019. I understand that the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government pays for half of the rental cost for the library currently and that when the lease ends such funding will no longer be available. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to come to the House to discuss the status of this Government document that was launched in 2014. I want to know whether he still believes in the Right to Read campaign, if the State is still willing to fund local libraries and if he will ensure that the library in Donaghmede will not close due to a lack of funding from central government.