Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

The programme for Government made strong and specific commitments on class sizes. The year 2002 was not "year zero" for Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats which had been in government for the preceding five years. That commitment was made with full knowledge of the resource implications and teacher numbers. We were told that the question was rowed back on because they did not realise the position and had to change in mid course, but let us nail that fact in the strongest possible manner because the commitment was made with all the information to hand. While special educational needs had been shamefully neglected since the foundation of the State, it was clear that the driving force for change was as a direct result of parents taking court action to seek an appropriate education for their children. The Government had no choice but to do what the courts instructed.

Class sizes in my area are among the highest in the country. New areas of educational disadvantage are being constructed. It is not a question of whether we can afford to reduce class sizes to 20 pupils, we cannot afford to delay doing so.

Real planning would entail refusing planning permission if sufficient school places were not available. People cannot understand why houses continue to be built when there is an obvious shortage of school accommodation. Until we achieve a balance between housing construction and school places, we will continue to have this problem.

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