Prior to the summer recess, Deputy Brian Hayes, the Fine Gael spokesman on education, asked the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, about the withdrawal of facilities for Protestant fee-paying schools. He raised this again yesterday in the Dáil. The Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. John Neil, raised this matter at his diocesan synod. I understand the facility was made available to fee-paying Protestant schools by the late Donogh O'Malley, for very good reasons, when free education was introduced. All Governments since then have treated the Protestant fee-paying schools fairly, as stated by Archbishop Neil yesterday.

The Minister for Education and Science has wandered into stormy waters that could be very controversial. Will the Taoiseach state why advice on this matter was sought from the Attorney General given that the system in place operated without any difficulty for the past 40 years? Will he confirm what question was asked of the Attorney General? It appears as if the Minister for Education and Science is saying in his responses to Deputy Brian Hayes that the payment to Protestant fee-paying schools has been unconstitutional in all the years for which it has been made available. Who sought advice from the Attorney General and what question was asked? Does the Taoiseach believe the system that has been in place for 40 years is unconstitutional?

This Government, like all its predecessors, is anxious to support minority schools, faith schools and the Protestant community generally. That is our intention at all times. The block grant remains in place and there is no question of its having been removed. It applies to those attending Protestant fee-charging schools and we continue to provide the support. It is a targeted support for individual members of the Protestant community wishing to attend Protestant second level schools.

The issue in question arose in regard to the withdrawal of an ancillary grant last year as part of the measures the Minister had to consider in the context of limited resources. Since last November, he has made it clear to the education committee of the Church of Ireland that he would like to hear from it on the issue of how those schools in rural areas that require support can be targeted, while acknowledging at the same time that there are well-established schools in more urban areas that draw from a wide catchment, similar to Catholic fee-paying schools. It is a question of hearing from the education committee as to how we can better target those schools that require financial support in the interest of maintaining the Protestant ethos in our education system, which we all welcome.

The Taoiseach did not answer my question. I asked who sought the Attorney General's advice and what question he was asked. The solution is to reinstate the grant, as pointed out by Deputy Brian Hayes yesterday. The block grant is irrelevant to the issue.

Today's The Irish Times quotes Archbishop Neil’s remarks at yesterday’s diocesan synod where he stated, “It was driven by what amounts to a very determined and doctrinaire effort within the Department of Education and Science to strike at a sector which some officials totally failed to understand.” Furthermore, he stated, “It is only now that what was once seen as realism in relation to different and complex situations is being described simply as ‘an anomaly’.” He also made the point that previous governments had treated these schools in a fair manner and that the same cannot be said of the present Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition. The Taoiseach’s Minister for Education and Science has caused this problem.

I understand from the Department of Finance that it is not a question of the extra grants for the fee-paying Protestant schools but of the fact that the Department of Education and Science lost its case against Protestant schools last year.

Hear, hear.

The schools were told they would be got at by the Department of Education and Science. The Taoiseach has direct responsibility for Northern Ireland relations and for good relations between all the churches. These are issues we discuss in the House occasionally. This is a matter in respect of which the Taoiseach should step in, overrule the Minister for Education and Science, who has made an almighty mess of the matter, and reinstate the grants, as Deputy Hayes pointed out yesterday. We do not want claims of sectarianism or discrimination or upheaval considering that the Protestant ethos in this Republic has been recognised and the Protestant minority has been treated fairly by all Governments since the late Donogh O'Malley introduced his free education scheme. This is an issue with which the Taoiseach can deal this morning. In his reply, he can state he will instruct the Minister for Education and Science to restore to fee-paying Protestant schools the grants that have been allocated to them for the past 40 years. It is not an issue concerning the Department of Finance but one of a mood and environment within the Department of Education and Science resulting in an effort to get at Protestant schools. I do not support that and neither should the Taoiseach. I would like him to deal with it now.

Hear, hear.

I fundamentally disagree with Deputy Kenny. I do not attach mal fides to anyone in this matter. The Minister has indicated that he is conscious that Protestant schools in rural areas may be in a different financial position from larger schools in Dublin. He reiterated yesterday in this House his invitation to the Archbishop and the schools concerned to come forward with proposals——

He has done nothing.

——that deal, in a targeted manner, with particular problems. He is committed to progressing such proposals in a helpful way. To ascribe mal fides, in the way the Deputy has done, is not responsible or accurate. It is a question of dealing with the issue in a substantive way, recognising that some schools require continuing assistance, which the Minister is anxious to facilitate on the basis of a targeted initiative, and that there are other well-established schools whose needs might not be so great.

When will the Taoiseach answer the question? What about the Attorney General? The Taoiseach is afraid to answer that question.

When did the Attorney General come into the matter?

The Taoiseach is fudging the issue.