CLAIMING THAT Ireland had the best education system in the world was “manure”, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn told the Dáil.

“We have an education system that badly needs to be reformed, and I have started that.”

Mr Quinn said €19 million was allocated in last year’s budget to change the way teachers were trained. It would not be known whether it was working for about another six years. “We have had extra resources going into the education system and the outcomes have not improved.”

Mr Quinn said this was particularly so among 15-year-old working-class boys, 20 per cent of whom emerged from the system functionally illiterate. Yet there had been a massive increase in educational resources over a 10- to 15-year period.

Independent Wicklow TD Stephen Donnelly said Ireland had the biggest decline in educational standards in the developed world in a decade. This was at the same time that the per capita investment in education had been doubled. “That is a total failure of the system, not of individual teachers.”

He was concerned he was not hearing an acceptance of the failure. Huge changes and increased funding were required.

Meanwhile, Mr Quinn said he expected a summer report from the group set up to bring forward proposals on the inclusion of capital assets as well as income in the case of applicants for student grants in the 2013-2014 academic year. “Any proposals arising from these recommendations will require, in the first instance, Government agreement, and subsequently will necessitate legislative amendment.”

Fianna Fáil education spokesman Brendan Smith said when the proposal was announced in the budget it had caused concern to many self-employed people, particularly landowners and farmers.

“It would be absolutely wrong to include productive assets in the means assessment. Such a system would discriminate against self-employed people, including farmers.”

Mr Quinn said in order to have a level playing pitch it was reasonable to include a means-testing mechanism.

Mr Smith said farming income could be very cyclical. “One can have one or two good years but, unfortunately, that can be affected by weather, even weather in another continent.”

Mr Quinn said he had no wish to introduce a new system of means assessment that was unfair. “That is not my intention. It will, therefore, receive rigorous analysis and scrutiny before we proceed.”