Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)

I commend my colleague, Deputy O'Sullivan, for proposing the motion. The level of frustration among parents arising from the Government's failure to reduce class sizes as promised in the 2002 programme for Government is evident at INTO meetings being held nationwide. There is an understandable sense of anger and dismay among parents that their children continue to be taught in overcrowded classrooms.

As the broken promises of the Government on class sizes have been well rehearsed during the debate, I propose to discuss school buildings and facilities. Improved school buildings go hand in hand with reducing class sizes. Hundreds of primary schools are operating in substandard, overcrowded facilities. Reducing class sizes will require more classrooms in better schools, a development only a change of Government will bring about.

Time and again during my 15 years as a Member of this House, I have raised the problem of school buildings in my constituency which are in dire need of upgrading and investment. Ten years of boom under the Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats parties have brought few improvements.

I am sorry Deputy Gogarty has left the Chamber. If he wants to know about commitment to education, between 1992 and 1997 five new national schools were built in my constituency of Kerry South, whereas I understand only one school has been built in the constituency in the past ten years.

Only a few weeks ago, during an Adjournment debate, I referred to Brackloon national school in Annascaul, County Kerry, which is bursting at the seams. Class sizes in the school cannot be reduced without a new school building and state-of-the-art facilities, for which people in Annascaul have been waiting for many years. Last week, my party leader, Deputy Rabbitte, visited Blennerville national school with my colleague, Councillor Terry O'Brien, to view the shameful conditions in the school. I hoped the Minister for Education and Science, who was in the constituency on the same day, would also visit the school but she failed to do so.

As I have stated on previous occasions, the sense of frustration I feel in raising school building projects and issues such as class sizes on the floor of the House is matched only by the anger and frustration of school principals and boards of management who contact me about their school. However, there is more than frustration and anger. I sense a feeling of dismay and absolute exasperation among teachers who are among our most treasured public servants. This is a sad and shameful reflection on those charged with governing our country.

Fianna Fáil representatives attending the INTO meetings have been making all sorts of promises, empathising with parents and teachers and pledging their support to the INTO campaign. Tonight, the same Government representatives have an opportunity to put their money where their mouths are. Opposing the Labour Party motion constitutes a two-fingered salute to the many thousands of parents, principals and teachers who have attended the INTO meetings and campaigned for improvements in their schools. Those Government Deputies who have sat ashen-faced at the meetings have an opportunity to live up to the commitments they made at the meetings and vote with the Labour Party on the motion. Parents and teachers are waiting for them in the long grass and they can expect a response on polling day.

The Government has not nearly met the commitment it gave in 2002 to achieve a pupil-teacher ratio of 20:1. In many schools the ratio is still 30:1, for example, almost 3,000 primary school pupils in my county are in classes of more than 30 students.

The big fear is that, given the failure to reduce class sizes to the required levels during a decade of unprecedented economic prosperity, class sizes will never be adequately reduced by this Government. Why, despite overflowing State coffers, are children still being taught in overcrowded classrooms, prefabricated buildings and, in some cases, corridors? The answer is that the Government, following a long decade in office, has failed to prioritise class sizes. That is sufficient reason for replacing the Government with a new Administration prepared to cherish our children and put education and class sizes at the top of the agenda. Again, I commend my colleague, Deputy O'Sullivan, for proposing the motion.

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