“The Minister asks in his introduction – “ are our policies right ? is our focus right ? are we moving fast enough ? ” Yet he is the third Sinn Fein Education Minister in succession with Sinn Fein having presided over the Education Ministry for the past 13 years. His party has been responsible for those policies, that focus and the pace of change.”
“Their policies have given cover to schools they are now threatening. The Minister must spell out the consequences for the pupils in the schools he is now targeting for closure. Not only must he give detail of the number of pupils involved, he must also give detail of the “hit list” of schools which press speculation says each Education Board possesses and which are now faced with closure.”
“The Minister has a great deal to say in his statement in an effort to sound decisive but what we are now seeing is the unravelling of Sinn Fein education policy over the past 13 years, during which time they have created uncertainty on top of uncertainty and, in many cases, chaos on top of chaos.”