Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

I thank the Deputy. Deputy O'Sullivan moved this motion but I will congratulate her on her work in the education area over the past two years, whether dealing with schools in desperate need of repair or with class sizes. There are times when one speaks on a subject that is not being addressed by the Government and feels there is not much more to say. However, when it comes to class sizes, education or, in connection with my constituency, education for disadvantaged children, there is always more to be said because so little has been done.

The Minister was not in the Department of Education and Science for the bulk of the past eight years. Deputy Dempsey had the greater bulk of that period but the Minister is a member of a Government that has continuously spoken about producing guidelines on disadvantage and education. We are still waiting eight years later. It worries me that we may continue to wait on this and other issues, such as health, BreastCheck or whatever. When it comes to this Government doing something concrete on a community difficulty, we seldom see results. The Ministers will stand up and tell us how bad the other crowd were, what they did not do and what they should have done, but the members of the Government never take any blame themselves.

There are 9,067 pupils between the ages of four and twelve in classes of more than 40 in County Cork.

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