Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to mention three groups I met yesterday, as did many of my colleagues in the House, namely, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, and Fáilte Ireland. The INTO and USI had significant support yesterday from Members across the two Houses. I want to stress some of their requests. We know, especially for primary school education, that class size is one of the most important mechanisms for ensuring that children get the best education possible. I work in, and hope eventually to represent, Dublin South Central, an area which has one of the highest proportion of schools in the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, programme in the country. DEIS has been successful since it was brought in by my Fianna Fáil colleague, former Deputy Mary Hanafin It is time now to bring in a second round of DEIS because, despite the programme's success, many children in inner city and more disadvantaged communities are still left behind. We need proper investment in schools, class sizes and appropriate support, leadership and paths for career progression to keep young teachers in the profession. The teachers make the children and ensure they get the best possible education.

The representatives of the USI brought forward many issues that we already know about and discuss every day in this House. The first and foremost is housing. Where one will live is a significant factor when considering where to go to a third level institution in this country. The CAO forms allowing students to change their minds are out now and students have ten days to decide what courses they would like to pursue and housing is an issue. A student who is fortunate enough to live in Dublin can stay at home and have a choice of the excellent colleges in the capital. However, for a student who lives outside the capital and far from a good third level institution, the issue of where they will live will be the biggest factor in deciding which college to put on their CAO form. That should not be the case. Students should be able to decide what course they want to do based on the merits of the course.

I ask the Government to look at grants and the prospect of reducing fees for third level students. It is a cliche but the old Irish saying, "Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí; cáin an óige agus críonnfaidh sí" is pertinent and very much applies to education. It is the best investment we can make in our State.

I was very impressed by the presentation from Fáilte Ireland. There is stiff competition for tourism across Europe at the moment. I commend the local authorities around the country that are putting their best feet forward in Dublin, the Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland's Ancient East and across counties Cork and Kerry. We have great options available for tourists. There has been an increase in numbers of tourists to Ireland and we need to keep an eye on it and ensure there is proper investment in tourism. Perhaps we could have a debate on it in this House at some stage.