Niall Blaney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

During my time as a Deputy and politician, different people would talk to me about how tough it must be being a politician and a Deputy representing County Donegal, but I would choose it any day before I would be a teacher. I will begin by recognising the job our teachers do for our children and society. It is not an easy job. Teachers have a tough time implementing curricula and must be recognised for the good job they do.

On the other side of the equation, it is only right tonight to recognise the work done and the effort made by the Minister since she assumed office. She has really shone in her role as Minister for Education and Science. There has never been so much work carried out under the aegis of the Department of Education and Science as there is now. I take my hat off to the Minister for her decision to prioritise children with special needs and those in disadvantaged areas. Had she not done so, we would probably have the INTO and others arguing that the pupil-teacher ratio should be reduced to 1:20. If she were to do this, we would not hear of a lobby for special needs, as is currently the case. That is a fact.

The Minister continues to do great work in the Department of Education and Science across the education sector in both primary and secondary schools. She is lowering the pupil-teacher ratio, even though the population has exploded and 1,300 new school buildings or refurbishment projects are under way. In spite of the explosion in the non-national population which required the designation of 1,200 new English teachers, class sizes continue to reduce. People should at least recognise this fact. Some 15,000 adults in mainstream primary schools are working solely with children with special needs compared to just a fraction of that number a few years previously. As well as providing for significant increases in staff numbers, the Minister has also improved procedures for accessing extra support. A guaranteed allocation of resource teaching hours has been given to all primary schools. This is an important step which has replaced the need for an individual assessment for every single child. A team of 80 local special educational needs organisers has been put in place to work with parents and teachers. We hear little from the Opposition and others about this unprecedented step.

At second level, approximately 1,900 whole-time equivalent additional teachers are in place to support pupils with special needs, compared with the previous figure of 200 teachers in 1998. In addition, there are more than 500 whole-time equivalent learning support teachers and approximately 1,400 whole-time equivalent special needs assistants in second level schools.

When I look around my constituency, I see ongoing work in schools. New primary and secondary schools have been built and existing schools have been refurbished. I refer to new bunscoileanna and meánscoileanna. Great facilities are being put in place. A number of years ago all we heard about was rat infested schools. I hear nothing about them now but we do not hear the Opposition congratulating us for addressing that problem. We do not hear the INTO referring to it either.

The number of schools in my constituency that are being or have been built is phenomenal. This is the case right across the Letterkenny, Inishowen and Muff electoral areas. We are still waiting for a few projects to get the go-ahead. At least 12 new schools have been built in recent years. That is a phenomenal number of schools. Summer works programmes are ongoing across the board. I am sure the situation is no different in other constituencies.

The Minister has done unprecedented work and it is time this was recognised. She will go down as the Minister for Education and Science who has done the most to progress education since the foundation of the State, with a particular emphasis on helping pupils with a disadvantage and those who live in disadvantaged areas, for which I congratulate her.

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