Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)

I seek the adjournment of the Dáil under Standing Order 31 to discuss a matter of urgent public and national concern, namely, the necessity to reduce primary school class sizes, particularly in view of the fact that they are the second largest in the EU; the abandonment of the commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government to ensure that "the average size of classes for children under 9 will be below the international best-practice guideline of 20:1"; the dramatic 45% increase to over 108,000 in the number of primary school children being taught in classes of over 30 pupils; the fact that 15% of primary school children transfer to secondary school with literacy problems; and the need for the Government to reduce significantly mainstream class sizes over the next two years as a matter of urgency.

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