Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

Parents with little or no experience of the bureaucracy of the Department of Education and Science or the science associated with teaching will be concerned as to how many other children will be in first, second or third class along with their Máire or Johnny. All other non-classroom teachers are seen as backup and support. Parents' main concern is the actual ratio of primary school teachers to the number of children in a classroom in those critical schoolgoing years. Will the Minister agree on some clarity in conveying this information to the wider public and the House? To judge by the answer I received on 2 October the Minister can manipulate the figures to produce different kinds of results. While I am not accusing the Minister of doing that I seek clarity so that parents understand how many pupils there are in their children's classrooms.

See this speech in context