A round-up of today's other stories in brief...
Labour plan for schools to devote extra time to literacy classes
Primary schools would devote up to 120 minutes extra per day to teaching literacy under a Labour proposal, writes Elaine Edwards.The party published a literacy policy which would also require principals to produce specific literacy plans, and to provide feedback to parents on their child's standard of reading and writing.
Education spokesman Ruairí Quinn said one in 10 primary school children had serious literacy difficulties. That figure rose to one in three in disadvantaged areas.
He said almost one in six 15-year-olds do not have the literacy skills to cope with further education or the demands of today’s workplace, citing a 2009 OECD skills survey.
Boyd Barrett denies SF deal
People Before Profit candidate councillor Richard Boyd Barrett has described as “absolutely baseless” claims Sinn Féin had done a deal with his party not to run a candidate in Dún Laoghaire.
He described the allegations as the “political skulduggery” and “malign influence” of newspaper reports.
Independent and former Progressive Democrats councillor Victor Boyhan, also running in Dún Laoghaire, made the allegation when he came across Mr Boyd Barrett doing an interview in the constituency with TV3 yesterday. Mr Boyhan claimed he was asked the question as he canvassed.
Lack of diversity not addressed
The General Election campaign has not yet heard proposals from political parties on how a more equal society might be arrived at, the civic movement Claiming Our Future has said.
Co-ordinator Niall Crowley said a host of proposals had been put forward on political reform, but no party had pledged to address issues such as the lack of diversity and gender equality in public representation.
“The same goes for public sector reform. A myriad of proposals, but not one to enhance the ability of our public services to eliminate disadvantage or address the diverse needs of the people who use them,” he said.