I second Senator Paul Daly's proposal to amend the Order of Business.

I commend the members of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly who attended the 57th plenary conference in London from 21 to 23 October. In particular, I commend the Co-Chairs, Mr. Andrew Rosindell, MP, and Deputy Seán Crowe, on their excellent management and chairing of the session. It was a wonderful experience to meet our colleagues from all over the United Kingdom, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

I cannot hear the Senator.

I will try to project my voice. The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly was established under the Good Friday Agreement. It is a tremendous forum for meeting our colleagues from all over the region comprising England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. We had interesting and excellent meetings with the Right Honourable Jeremy Hunt, MP and UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and the Right Honourable Ms Karen Bradley, MP, and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The Irish ambassador to the UK, Mr. Adrian O'Neill, acquitted himself very well, as we would expect given his experience. Yesterday we were also guests at 10 Downing Street where we had an opportunity to meet the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

I am encouraged and hopeful there will be a breakthrough in the Brexit talks on the future arrangements between the European Union and the United Kingdom. I genuinely believe the backstop will be agreed to for a special economic zone between the United Kingdom and Ireland in terms of the Border and the continued trade between us and our nearest neighbour. The United Kingdom and Ireland are two islands located off the mainland of Europe. Therefore, we need a special arrangement to ensure the continuation of trade worth €1.1 billion between our two countries. It is vital. I am convinced that goodwill will be shown by both sides to bring about this agreement.

I compliment the Prime Minister, Mrs. Theresa May, on doing her utmost to solve this issue. She is under enormous pressure, but she is an excellent Prime Minister. I firmly believe she will produce a solution that will be agreed by all sides and that will benefit both Ireland and the United Kingdom.

I join in the words of sympathy extended to the nephews and nieces of former Deputy Seymour Crawford who, sadly, has passed away. He was a humble man who devoted his considerable talents and ability to the services of others.

I wish to raise an education issue with the Leader, but before I do so, I congratulate my fellow Ulsterman, Deputy McHugh, on his elevation to Minister for Education and Skills. I also thank his predecessor, Deputy Bruton, for the extraordinary work that he did in that Department.

I want to talk about a great inequality and wrong in the education system that has gone under the radar. The capitation fee for secondary schools is double that for primary schools. The fee was reduced by 30% in the recession. In the previous budget it was restored by 5% but there is still a deficit of 25% due to the recession. The standard capitation grant in a primary school is about 92 cent a day or €172 per year. The grant is double that amount in post-primary education, at €296. The Catholic Primary School Management Association, CPSMA, has stated €46 million a year comes from voluntary contributions.

The important thing about primary education is that we have a new hands-on curriculum and pupils learn by doing. The curriculum involves all facets of education, including music and sport, the same as secondary education. The primary school curriculum also involves IT. The needs of a primary school student, in terms of education, equipment and extracurricular activities, will be similar to the needs of a secondary school student if there is to be active learning as per the curriculum. Primary education acts as a foundation stone and it is where a person really develops. The real way to create equality is to invest in the lower tiers of education.

It is a great wrong that the children who attend primary schools get half the capitation grant and thus are supported half as well as children who attend secondary schools. That is wrong, inequitable and unfair; it does not create equality and it is wrong for development. We are now in an economic position to solve the problem. I call on the Leader to arrange a debate on this serious issue. People may not notice, but it is wrong that a child attending primary school is discriminated against. It is active discrimination.

I support Senator Leyden's comments as I, too, am a member of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. We had a very productive two days in London, both at the conference venue and Westminster. Yesterday we had a moving wreath-laying ceremony at Westminster that was led by the two Co-Chairs and that acknowledged all of the people who had died in the First World War, or the Great War, as it is also known.

I highlight a report produced by the Nevin Economic Research Institute and outlined this morning. It claims that multinationals hide the weakness in the indigenous economy and that while the average statistics look quite good, it is really the multinationals that are very productive and advanced in terms of efficiencies, thus hiding a lack of productivity in the indigenous sector. The report highlights, in particular, that the domestic economy is weaker in terms of information and communications, which is somewhat surprising and real estate activities when compared with European counterparts.

Will the Leader schedule a debate on the topic of national competitiveness? While we welcome and appreciate the tremendous employment and tax benefits that foreign direct investment brings, equally, we must strengthen and protect the indigenous economy. It would be wonderful if we had as many home-grown companies. We have some very successful multinational companies such as Cement Roadstone Holdings, the Kerry Group, Smurfit and others that have grown out of Ireland. Nonetheless, there are a lot of companies in Ireland that are not as productive as I would like them to be and as, I am sure, they would like to be. The Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, would be the most appropriate Minister to invite to the House. We could discuss what she and her Department, with Members of this and the Lower House, could do to strengthen the indigenous economy.

I wish for as much foreign direct investment as we can get because it is fantastic. The more we have, the less dependent we are on any individual company. This is, however, an important topic on which I ask the Leader to schedule a debate as soon as possible.

I agree with Senators Leyden and Horkan on the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. I compliment the British co-chair of BIPA, Mr. Andrew Rosindell, MP, on a truly great programme that he laid on. I had an opportunity at the meeting to pay tribute to the late Seymour Crawford who was a proud member of that body for some time. On one occasion - I do not know how many years ago - when the conference was held in Dalmahoy, outside Edinburgh, the former Deputy had a bad back and could not fly. I collected him in Monaghan and drove him there and we got on very well.

On a happier note, I personally conveyed the Cathaoirleach's warm wishes to The Right Honourable John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, and I assure the Cathaoirleach they were heartily reciprocated. He told me that he had met the Ceann Comhairle and that he would like to meet the Cathaoirleach. Perhaps the Cathaoirleach's office might get in touch with the Speaker's office in due course.