Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

I wish to raise with the Taoiseach a matter relating to the programme for Government. As we all know, that agreement was entered into after the election so we are not talking about election promises. The Taoiseach stated in the programme for Government:

We will continue to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in our schools. Over the next five years we will progressively introduce maximum class size guidelines which will ensure that the average size of classes for children will be below best international practice of 20:1.

The position is that more than 100,000 children are catered for in classes that range from 30 to 39 pupils. Obviously, children in bigger schools suffer most.

Let us look at, for example, Kildare and Meath, for no particular reason. The Government has reached its target of a class size of under 20 in 4% of cases in Kildare and in 10% of schools in Meath. Some 37% of pupils in Kildare and 34% in Meath are taught in classes of between 30 and 39. Meath has the second largest class size in the entire country with 44 children in one class. There has been no move at all on class sizes. It would appear the new Minister for Education and Science — I will sit down before she gets a note to the Taoiseach — has retreated from this aim. She described it as a "noble aspiration" on a recent television programme. I do not know if that is what she has written in the note to the Taoiseach but it would appear she has retreated from the promise in the programme for Government.

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