Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)

I would like to share time with Deputies Moynihan-Cronin, Gilmore and O'Shea. I thank the Labour Party education spokesperson, Deputy O'Sullivan, for tabling the motion enabling us to have this debate.

We are lucky to live in a rich country which has the resources to provide world-class services for its people but this did not become a rich country by chance. In the relatively short period from 1994 to 1997 Deputy Quinn, as Minister for Finance, laid the foundations for and developed the successful economy that gives the State riches beyond its dreams. As a result, we can afford to provide the very best opportunities for our children and young people. The future well-being and prosperity of a nation are dictated by its investment in the education and cultural development of its youth. The foundation of that investment in our future is the funding and resourcing of primary education for our children. The State recognises this fact, as is evident in free universal access to primary education for all children.

That was the case until this crowd of wasters got their hands on the resources provided by the taxpayer. The Progressive Democrats should not be blamed for this because Fianna Fáil pledged to reduce class sizes to 20 pupils for children under nine years of age. This pledge was made in 1997 and 2002 but on neither occasion was the promise kept. Not only did Fianna Fáil break its pledge to the children of this country but the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, also arrogantly announced shortly after her appointment that she had no intention of fulfilling her party's undertaking on class size reduction. Fianna Fáil now has the cheek and breathtaking arrogance to repeat this pledge again. Does it think people are total fools? Does the Minister believe they will swallow the lies for the third time running? I assure her they will not be fooled again. God help the poor, innocent Fianna Fáil candidates in north Kildare.

I want to inform the Minister of the effect of her broken promises and failure to keep her repeated pledges on the children of north Kildare who attend school in the largest classes in Ireland, far exceeding any elsewhere in Europe. Some reach six years of age by the time they get a place in such classes. In Celbridge, Leixlip and Maynooth combined there are only 35 children in classes of less than 20 pupils. This gives the lie to the Taoiseach's suggestion this morning that many children are in such classes. In those three towns there is a total of 4,900 pupils, of whom less than 1% are in classes of less than 20. In north Kildare there are 1,972 children in classes of 20 to 24 pupils, 6,408 in classes of 25 to 29 pupils and 3,854 in classes of 30 pupils and higher. The average class size in north Kildare is 27.1. Ten years after the first Fianna Fáil commitment this is a shocking indictment of its failure.

Despite their best efforts, teachers cannot teach classes of 30 to 35 children. Our children suffer as a result. The effect of this on children, their life prospects and right to develop to their full potential is far reaching and most harmful to them. Such class sizes damage the foundation of education progress and makes it more difficult for children to develop to the second and third stages. The parents of these children, as taxpayers, have given the Minister money to do her duty but she has failed miserably to do so.

I commend Deputy O'Sullivan's motion to the House and thank the INTO for its vigorous campaign and assistance in providing statistics for my contribution.

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