Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

No more than the Minister's commitment in An Agreed Programme for Government to reduce class sizes in primary schools, will she admit that she has failed with regard to educational investment at second level? Will she acknowledge she is using this special needs and language support argument as a hoary old chestnut? The reality is she is not spending enough on education and as a result, 30,000 second level students are in classes of more than 30 students. Will she also acknowledge that although there has been an increase in the past number of years, we are still in the bottom half of OECD spending? Ireland was ranked 29th out of 30 countries using GDP figures and 24th out of 30 OECD countries using GNP figures. Will the Minister acknowledge this is a shame in terms of educational investment?

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