Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I wish to share time with Deputies McGrath, Healy, Connolly, Gogarty and Crowe. Ba mhaith liom tacaíocht a thabhairt don tairiscint thábhachtach seo i dtaobh cúrsaí oideachais, go háirithe ós rud é gur iar-mhúinteoir mé, ach freisin toisc go bhfuilim i mo Theachta do cheantar i lár na cathrach seo, áit nach bhfuil an deis chéanna ag páistí scoile dul chun cinn a dhéanamh chun oideachas tríú leibhéil a bhaint amach. In the two minutes available to me, I wish to put on record my absolute support for this important motion on education and class size. It is clearly a very black mark on the record of the Irish State, that after the years of the Celtic tiger, with huge budgetary surpluses and the continuing economic boom, Ireland remains with the second highest average class size in the European Union, despite the commitment in the programme for Government that class sizes would be progressively reduced to below the international best practice of 20 to one.

I represent the north inner city of Dublin, as does the Taoiseach. Regrettably, it is a byword for educational disadvantage and ironically is the area where the office and headquarters of the Minister for Education and Science is located. I remind the Minister that the most recent study by the Higher Education Authority yet again demonstrates that the issue of access to third level education remains particularly bleak in the north inner city, with fewer than one in five school leavers going on to third level colleges. In some communities in that area, not a single child gets to university. This will not be rectified until the issue of class size at primary level in particular is addressed. Those few schools lucky enough to participate in the Breaking the Cycle programme see the real benefits of smaller classes for disadvantaged children. Even there however, the reduction of class size is only at junior level. Classes often double in size in the same schools at senior level. What chance do these children have to break out of the cycle of disadvantage? I sincerely hope this Government will now belatedly honour its commitment on class size and that the Minister, who has voiced her own concern on disadvantaged education will make a real impact in this much neglected area.

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