Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

More than a quarter of primary school pupils are taught in classes of more than 30 pupils. This is unacceptable in one of the richest countries per capita in the world. Deputy O'Connor mentioned St. Mark's senior school in my constituency, which caters for children from 47 different countries with varying levels of English. The average class size is 30 pupils. These class sizes are unfair on all those concerned. The only additional staff that school gets are two language teachers on a two-year contract.

For teachers who already have a stressful enough job, attempting to teach such large classes inevitably proves difficult. Pupils lose out as less time is spent on one-to-one teaching. School discipline may also suffers as it is more time consuming for a teacher to control larger classes. Pupils do not get the same attention in larger classes and it is clear that they suffer.

In their programme for Government, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats committed themselves to reducing class sizes for children under nine years of age to below the best international practice of a ratio of 20:1 by 2007. They will fail and they do not accept, as other speakers stated, the priorities may have shifted. It is seen by many as another promise broken.

As other speakers stated, the Government has failed to plan for the explosion in the population. In the Dublin 15 area, this increase in population has brought a marked increase in the demand for primary school places. It is unacceptable that we witness an unprecedented increase in the amount of property development and construction of office blocks and private apartments throughout the city while some areas do not have sufficient schools or adequate buildings.

This year in Littlespace, three primary schools used the same site for the first school term, Ongar Educate Together, Tyrrellstown Educate Together and the Mary Mother of Hope school. More than half the pupils in nine west Dublin schools are in classes of more than 30 children, representing some of the largest classes in the country. One school in Hartstown has 19 classes with more than 30 pupils and recently it received more than 20 children who applied for places in September.

It is a depressing day for Irish education when parents must camp out for days to ensure their children's enrolment in their chosen school or when children are refused entry to schools. This is a country of waiting lists. An area in Kilinarden parish in my constituency has an action plan for a further 2,500 houses to be constructed. However, the local authority refuses to see the need for increased school places, supposedly on the basis of a drop in rolls. However, any principal will state there is no drop in rolls.

Regarding one school, Scoil Chaitlín Maude, a number of people have taken the decision to educate their children through Irish but there is no room in the school. It was told last year that it would not get another prefab. I am told Scoil Santain is also full. We state that children should be allowed have that option but the reality is that seats in those classes are not available.

I call on the Department of Education and Science to engage with the relevant Departments and agencies to produce assessments to ensure population and housing trends are closely monitored so that all school children have access to their local schools. As part of the plan for Adamstown, in South Dublin County Council's area, schools were developed and paid for by the developer. Perhaps that is how the Minister should consider progressing, given that adequate funding does not come from the Department. Developers make enough money throughout the country to provide funding. Perhaps the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will examine that and introduce legislation to provide for it.

Budget 2006 saw the announcement of the provision of an additional 500 teachers over the next two years to assist in the reduction of class sizes. A total of 250 extra teachers for this year in a system of 3,150 schools is a small step. The average class size in both Lithuania and Luxemburg is 15 and that to what we should aspire. We should seek to reduce class sizes as much as possible. The Government's lack of political will means that in the coming years the crisis in primary school places will be replicated due to the failure to provide sufficient secondary school places.

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