The White Paper on Education entitled, Charting our Education Future, was published following consideration and approval by the Government. The Minister for Finance participated in that process which would, of course, have included consideration of the cost implications of the White Paper.
I could not confirm the cumulative cost to the year 2000 of implementation of the White Paper policy proposals and provision for pensions referred to by the Deputy. As the Deputy will appreciate, the cost of education measures is determined to a large extent by pay costs, which in turn reflect numbers employed in the sector and pay rates at any given time. It would not be useful or appropriate to comment on what these cost elements might be to the year 2000.
As indicated in the White Paper, the Government will aim to provide the resources for the development needs identified in the White Paper, within the framework of the budgetary parameters set out in the Government of renewal policy document, including the acceptance of the Maastricht Treaty convergence conditions. The amount which can be made available in any given year will have to be decided by the Government in the context of its financial position and its other public expenditure priorities at that time. In this context the Government will have the opportunity to consider any potential for reallocating resources within the education sector in the light of demographic changes.