asked the Minister for Education how many of the applicants for places on the special training courses for the 600 trainee teachers who were initially rejected were subsequently accepted for a place on the course.

No applicant found unsuitable by the interview boards was invited to attend the introductory courses in the Colleges of Education in Carysfort, Blackrock, County Dublin, and in Limerick.

Did the Minister interview any applicants himself?

I am glad the Deputy asked that supplementary because he put in this question in a different format originally and then he changed it. This question now indicates how he was thinking. For the health of our democracy it is an important question. Nobody approached me and nobody got in as a result of a personal approach to me.

Would the Minister not agree that the purpose of parliamentary questions is to elicit information from Ministers?

The political philosophy of the Deputy is so well developed that he wants to spread it around, but he should have stuck to the original format of his question.

Can the Minister say whether those who applied were asked if they had been registered as unemployed?

The brief I gave to the people who interviewed for my Department was to use the criteria and principles which they normally use in selecting the graduates for the course and to come up with 600.

Has the Minister any knowledge of the number of applicants who were in full-time, insured, remunerative employment?

If the Deputy puts that question down I will answer it.

I have already had that question down. I had a reply a month ago but wondered whether the Minister could indicate if he has got the information?

The Deputy is wasting my time if he has already received a reply.

In his reply the Minister referred to the criteria used in selecting the candidates. Does he not agree that if these criteria were applied there would have been only 144 people on the course, not 398?

That is not correct.