asked the Minister for Education when the Council of Ministers for Education in the EEC is due to meet; and the proposals he will have for the meeting.
Ceisteanna—Questions Oral Answers. - EEC Education Minister's Meeting.
36.
Mr. R. Burke
The date for this meeting has not yet been fixed. The agenda is under consideration at present and will not be finalised for some time.
Would the Minister like to say why a date proposed—I think it was the 18th March—was not agreed on?
Mr. R. Burke
Obviously because some of the participants did not agree with the date proposed. There was not unanimity in regard to that date.
The second part of my question asked for the proposals the Minister will have for the meeting. Could I have a reply to that?
Mr. R. Burke
I am sure Deputy Wilson, on reflection, will agree, for a Minister to go to an EEC meeting, having indicated in advance the position he will take, would be inadvisable. I do not intend to declare my position in advance.
Would the Minister agree that in the field of education there has been a great slackness in European activity, that Dahrendorf's personal document on education is a year old, that the new proposals came out only a couple of days ago and that there seems to be no interest whatsoever in education?
The Deputy is broadening the subject matter of this question out of all proportion. Question No. 37.
With respect, I would like the Minister's observations on that.
Mr. R. Burke
The Minister would agree to some extent with the Deputy that advance on the educational front has not been as rapid as one would like, stretching from the Guichard Plan of 1969 right through Dahrendorf and all the other people. Of course, the Deputy, I hope, is not suggesting that the blame for that should rest with Ireland.
Question No. 37. We must pass on, Deputy Wilson. Deputy Wilson must obey the Chair at some stage.
Would the Minister not agree that far from blaming Ireland I am saying that there should be an initiative in education at the European level and I do not care a tinker's curse where it comes from?