Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

——even though we have a tried and tested system of recognising new schools, it was necessary to bypass that system to speed up the recognition of a school for September.

In addition, under the provisions of the strategic development zones, it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and that the schools must be developed commensurate with housing and other developments such as community facilities. These zones anticipate that local authorities will measure up to their responsibilities.

Over and above the statutory consultation provisions on draft area development plans where my Department causes sites to be reserved for school provision, in recent years we have worked to strengthen contacts with local authorities to enable informed decisions to be made in planning future educational provision. For example, a specific forum, the Dublin school planning committee, chaired by officials of my Department, interacts with Dublin local authorities.

This forum comprises representatives of the local authorities in Dublin, together with representatives of the patron bodies of primary schools, and it works proactively in monitoring demographic changes and their likely impact. Taken in combination, I am confident the measures outlined improve the speed and effectiveness of the response to emerging needs in all areas including those which are rapidly developing.

I will turn to the issue of teaching resources. I am glad of this opportunity to spell out once and for all the unprecedented increase in the number of teachers in our schools in recent years and the extra support now provided for children with special needs, those from disadvantaged areas and those who need help with their English, to ensure they can reach their full potential at school.

The incredible progress made in this area in recent years is evident from the fact that next September no less than 4,000 extra teachers will be in our primary schools, compared with 2002. Not only is the average class size in our primary schools down to 24, but there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers. The majority of the extra teachers hired in recent years have rightly been targeted at providing support for children with special needs, those from disadvantaged areas, and those with English language needs. They have made an immeasurable difference to the lives of those children, while also providing vital backup for mainstream classroom teachers.

Each of these areas is, and must be, a major priority for me and this Government, even if the scale of the resources needed to support these children could not have been predicted a few years ago. If we had put all these extra teachers into mainstream classrooms instead of targeting them at these priority areas, they would have done a lot to reduce class size in our schools even further. That number of teachers would have met the Government commitment.

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