Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)

Half the children in Ireland do not have this service. It is typical of Fianna Fáil Deputies to attack when they know they are wrong. I do not understand how they can vote against this motion.

The Government's educational programme has been backwards for the past ten years. We build houses but we never seek to find out how many children will live in them. It is a simple equation because 100 houses will contain a certain number of children. The one statistic we have at the end of every year is the number of births in the preceding 12 months. The Government must plan for the future.

The people no longer accept the status quo of ten years ago when if things were not 100% perfect for one child in a household, he or she was left behind to close the gate after the cows. They want full support for every one of their children. It is unacceptable that Fianna Fáil is attacking us for tabling this motion because that party did not address the issue. The Government knows the number of children in the country and that 190,000 are affected by these problems. Promising everything before the general election and breaking the bad news afterwards is not the way to do business.

Every household has a child who needs a bit of extra help. The money should be spent at the beginning of each year when the Minister for Finance comes to the House with his budget. The required €100 million should be provided up front for these children rather than for the children who will be all right.

For the past ten years, repeated commitments were made to reduce class sizes to 22 students but this has not been progressed. If children are given proper assessment at the age of three or four, their health bills will be reduced 20 years in the future, the problems on the streets will be less severe and fewer of them will leave school at an early age. Great promises were made last March and April but all we are getting now is bad news. The people will no longer accept simple stories. We have the money and we want the best for our children.

Several weeks ago in County Meath, Deputy Johnny Brady and the Minister, Deputy Noel Dempsey, laughed at me for criticising a project being imposed on the people of the county. They said it would have to proceed but they changed their tune in front of 3,500 people in Trim three weeks later, when they said it is not Fianna Fáil policy to erect overground cables.

I intended to speak about young people until Deputy Curran started ranting about our policies. The people of Ireland will no longer accept false promises. They realise the country has had an abundance of money over the past ten years but it was lost in our education system. Schools are overcrowded. Children who need special attention should be assessed at three or four years of age so that when they reach the age of ten or 12 they can take their place in normal life. They can join the workforce later so we do not have to be dependent on people from other countries.

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