Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Currently many primary school teachers are clearing up after a hectic day trying to teach in overcrowded classrooms. The Taoiseach may have heard the appalling reports from INTO teachers involved in the large meetings about the number of children in primary school classrooms around the country. In Wicklow for example, 29% of children in primary schools are in classes of over 30, in Meath the figure is 31%, in Dún Laoghaire the figure is34%, in Kildare it is 34%, in Kilkenny it is 30%, in Louth it is 30% and in my area it is a disgraceful 37%. The INTO has worked out that involves eight minutes teacher time per day for each junior infant. The Minister for Education and Science is sitting beside the Taoiseach giving him as many details hopefully as he needs. He said in the programme for Government five years ago that over the following five years his Government would "ensure that the average class size of classes for children under 9 will be below the international best-practice guideline of 20:1". There is a hell of a difference between 20:1 and over 30:1.

The situation is worse in reality because there are waiting lists in many schools, for example, in my area a parent told me there are 116 on the list to which she was invited to add her child's name, for nine places. I heard of another list of 180 for 80 places, a list of 100 names for 54 places, and in a secondary school of 400 of a list for 280 places. Classroom size is part of a much bigger failure by the Government. As we approach the end of this Government's term in office will the Taoiseach accept the reality that his Government has failed to implement the promise made in the programme for Government and apologise? Will he leave us to judge the Government on that or will the Government put the money aside to employ the teachers, fund the colleges and erect the new buildings required to meet a basic commitment in the programme for Government? The measurement included there is not impressive by international standards. Will the Taoiseach keep his promise?

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