Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

I welcome this motion but I will not say too much on the wording of it. I raised it as a priority question on 9 March 2005. The Government broke the promise it made in the programme for Government to reduce class sizes. We all know that class size reduction makes a tangible difference. Developers should be made provide school buildings as part of the planning process. These measures are in the hands of the Government.

I am tired of pious rhetoric with regard to education. I welcome the INTO's efforts to reduce class sizes but I am not sure whether it will receive more than lip service from the Government and the Opposition. We have witnessed the very cynical launch of a campaign against anti-social behaviour from one of the parties in this House. This party is acting on the backs of poorer areas that face the brunt of anti-social behaviour and harassment and is attempting to delude people in middle-class areas that anti-social behaviour is rife. Anti-social behaviour does exist in certain areas. I want to raise the question of what causes this behaviour. More gardaí can be put on the streets, as I said in the debate on the Garda Síochána Bill 2004, but the cause of anti-social behaviour will not be tackled by platitudes and electioneering. The way to deter criminality and to ensure, as the Progressive Democrats would put it, that we are not costing the economy money in terms of prison spaces, social welfare and reduced taxation because people cannot get higher paying jobs due to lack of qualifications, is to invest in education. I put it to the Minister for State and any of her colleagues who are watching that investing in education today can make a considerable difference in five or ten years and save the State money. I am emphasising the financial benefits of investing in education rather than the social benefits because money is all this Government appears to understand. I concede that record amounts of money have been spent on education but more is needed.

I want to address the question of how the cycle of educational disadvantage in both disadvantaged areas and well-off areas with disadvantaged pupils can be broken. Breaking this cycle involves putting a major investment into reducing class sizes. I would like to ask Opposition Deputies in particular, as well as Government Deputies, to stop thinking about the next election and think forward if they are serious about education. Are politicians willing to have a real debate about funding education? Are people willing to put their money where their mouths are? I asked some Green Party researchers to do some calculations based on last year's figures to find out what a 1 cent increase in income tax or a comparable increase in an eco-tax would raise for education. They found that a 1 cent increase in income tax would net €540 million, while a comparable raise for an eco-tax would raise €460 million. I am not suggesting that it is Green Party policy to raise income taxes to pay for education. All of the parties in this House must have an honest debate about where the money to fund education will come from. I am tired of hearing people say we need to fund education and how terrible it is that there are six year old children entering school who have not been toilet-trained and that teachers can identify children at the age of seven who will cause trouble when they are older and possibly end up in prison and yet who do not come up with any answers as to how to fund education. If we are to be taken seriously as legislators, we have to come up with concrete solutions. There are certain ways in which current Exchequer funds could be diverted to education. I ask the Government to debate the economic cost of not investing in education and the Opposition to debate where the money is going to come from because we are all paying lip service because of the INTO campaign. In a year's time, will the situation have changed? Are we willing to pay for education?

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