Paddy McHugh (Galway East, Independent)

I am thankful for the opportunity to discuss this matter and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, for coming in to reply.

Cahergal national school, County Galway, has over the years been treated shabbily by the Department and the Minister's predecessors. Accommodation in the school is totally inadequate and the Department and previous Ministers have ignored the pleas of staff and parents to have proper accommodation provided. All requests have fallen on deaf ears and I request the Minister and the Department to review the situation as a matter of urgency. I specifically request the Minister to bring to finality the purchase of a site. If the option being pursued at present is not successful, another option, which is known locally, should be moved on. I ask the Minister of State to bring that to the Minister's attention.

I set out the case of the specific issue before us, the urgent need for the appointment of an extra teacher to Cahergal national school. At present the school has four class teachers for 105 pupils. This means the average class size in the school is 26.25 pupils. These figures are particularly intolerable as all these students are in split classes. For example, there is one teacher for 11 junior infants and 13 senior infants, a class size of 24 four and five year olds. In addition, the school has the services of a shared learning support teacher three mornings per week to provide extra support to 13 pupils and the services of one shared and one part-time resource teacher with a combined time of 21.5 per week to provide support for nine children with special educational needs. These additional supports for the school must be maintained for the benefit of the most vulnerable children.

Class sizes in the school and resources for children with special needs are issues of urgent concern for this community. It is unfair that children in Cahergal national school should be taught in classes of these sizes which belong to a bygone age. This is happening at a time when our country is experiencing unprecedented economic prosperity. The demands for increased staff in Cahergal national school are set out in the context of a commitment in the 2002 programme for Government which states:

We will continue to reduce the pupil:teacher ratio in our schools. Over the next five years we will progressively introduce maximum class guidelines which will ensure that the average size of classes for children under 9 will be below the international best-practice guideline of 20:1.

What has happened in respect of that commitment in the programme for Government? I do not have to wait for the answer because, unfortunately, absolutely nothing has happened. The Minister of State might tell us when something will happen. The reality is that three years later not one single step has been taken towards achieving the Government's target, notwithstanding the fact that for the first time in many years, there are qualified primary teachers available for work and a further 1,600 teachers set to graduate in 2005.

The most immediate need for Cahergal national school in regard to staffing is the appointment of one extra class teacher to the school from next September. It would bring Cahergal national school closer to achieving the class sizes of other developed countries. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's reply and urge him to take the issues concerning Cahergal national school seriously.

See this speech in context