Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Children who need extra help get more support than ever. Deputy Sargent knows that the majority of the extra teachers hired in recent years have, rightly, been aimed at support for children with special needs, those in disadvantaged areas and those who need help with English. We could have taken teachers across the board and reduced the pupil teacher ratio but we have employed teachers for those with special needs or in disadvantaged areas to make sure all our children in all our schools have these teachers.

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