Ms Mary Magner:

I thank the Deputy for his comments and for his praise of teachers. We hope that such praise for our school leaders will lead to the return of their former remuneration package, which has now not been paid for more than ten years. We wait in anticipation following the Deputy's praise.

With regard to special educational needs, the INTO has been demanding resources for children with special educational needs for a very long time. This is not the first time the issues the Deputy has highlighted have come to our attention. We will continue to work in this regard.

The issue of overcrowding in classrooms is very easily solved. Class sizes must be reduced. Our pupil-teacher ratio is the highest in Europe at 25:1, while those of our counterparts in the European Union average 20:1. We and our colleague unions have spoken about the size of classrooms. This issue would be solved easily by reducing class sizes. If class sizes are reduced, much of this will be ameliorated and mitigated.