Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

In requesting the House to endorse the record achievements of this Government in education since 1997, I ask the House to look at the facts. As the Minister for Education and Science said here last night, the priority this Government attaches to providing quality education at all levels is evident from the fact that the budget for the Department has doubled since 1997 from €3.1 billion to €7.9 billion currently.

The facts show the sea change that has been brought about since 1997 and they demonstrate clearly and unambiguously our sustained commitment to rectifying the deficit in every area of education. It is revealing to look at the facts. Some €3.9 billion has been allocated for capital funding over the next five years. Some €2.5 billion is being spent on school building between 2000 and the end of 2006. Over 1,100 projects will be carried out in schools on a rolling basis over the next 18 months. Some 23 new post-primary and four new primary schools will be delivered under the PPP programme. Between 2000 and 2005, a total of 6,287 large and small-scale building projects were completed, along with 4,778 primary school projects and 1,509 post-primary school projects.

New targeted planning processes, building delivery systems and devolved delivery schemes have been introduced to fast track provision. The local contribution for State-owned buildings, which had cost €63,000, has been abolished and 4,000 extra teachers have been provided since 2002. The average primary cIass size has been reduced from 27 to 24 and the pupil-teacher ratio has been improved to the point where there is one teacher for every 17 pupils at primary level and one for every 13.4 pupils at post-primary level. On top of this, over the next two years, funding has been secured to provide an extra 500 teachers to reduce cIass sizes further and tackle disadvantage.

On the disadvantage front, a new action plan called the DEIS programme, which is being implemented on a phased basis, has been introduced and will benefit pupils in 640 primary schools — 320 urban and 320 rural — and 200 post-primary schools. The full implementation of this plan will cost €40 million.

Significant advances have also been made on the special needs front, which have made a real difference to the lives of many children with special needs and their families. There are now over 5,000 teachers in our primary schools working directly with children with special needs, including those requiring learning support. There are also over 7,100 special needs assistants in our schools. Over €30 million is spent on school transport for special needs pupils and over €3 million is now allocated towards specialised equipment and materials for pupils with special educational needs. This figure is up from €0.8 million in 1998. ln addition, the level of resources to support students with special educational needs in the second level system has also grown significantly in recent years.

The Department is currently funding 12 autism-specific facilities that are operating on a pilot basis. These facilities are providing an applied behavioural analysis model of response, which is one of a range of models of approach to the education of children with autism.

I want to clarify a number of issues which have arisen in this debate. These include the processes involved in prioritising school building projects and the fact that the published prioritisation criteria in place emerged following consultation with the education partners. Rapidly developing areas attract a band one priority rating under the criteria, which is the highest band rating possible. I remind Deputies that the school building programme must proceed on a fair and rational basis as set out in the criteria. Under no circumstances will it proceed on the basis of who shouts loudest or seeks to grab media attention.

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