Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I wish to share my time with Deputies Ciarán Lynch, Kathleen Lynch and Seán Sherlock.

I commend my colleagues in the Labour Party on tabling this motion. As Deputies are aware, I have dealt with the area of education over a number of years and have had contacts with a variety of schools. This is an issue that has been brought up consistently by schools across the country.

One of the things I consider to be totally unfair about the system is that schools must raise money for the essentials of running a school, whether it be insurance, heating or water. There is a variety of services that should not need to be obtained through fund-raising, particularly in schools in which the parents cannot afford to provide extra funding. What this means is that the money obtained by schools through fund-raising is going on essentials and they do not then have the necessary funds for extras. Extras can make a major difference in terms of early advantage for young people, particularly such extra-curricular activities as drama, extra languages, sports, school bands and so on. Ideally, schools should be able to do these things with money raised from parents. Instead, they have to use this money for the basic essentials of running the schools. That is the ultimate equality at the core of our education system, which is there from the very start of the primary sector. It means schools that do not have sufficient funds from parents are at a disadvantage from the start compared to schools in better off areas where parents can afford to raise money. Ultimately, young children lose out.

I just spoke on the phone with a teacher in a DEIS school. Deputy Blaney referred to the fact that schools in DEIS areas receive extra funding. This teacher was telling me that she and her colleagues cannot bring the children to matches or do other basic things for the children in the school because they simply cannot ask the parents for the funding. They know the parents do not have the money. This is a basic inequality within the primary education system.

The Government has promised to double the capitation grant and we want to see that promise fulfilled. We also want to see its other promises fulfilled. The Minister promised to provide 4,000 extra teachers in order to reduce class sizes to the specific reduction targets on which a commitment was given before the last general election but one. No sooner had the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, come into office than she said she was sorry but she would not be able to fulfil the promises made during the election campaign. Now the Government is in office after another election and we are already being told, again, that it will not be able to fulfil its promises about class size. This is not acceptable. In classrooms with a large number of students per teacher it is impossible to give every child the attention he or she needs. These promises on capitation grants and class sizes should be fulfilled. It is not acceptable for the Government to turn around shortly after being elected and say it is sorry but it cannot fulfil its promise.

Deputy Mansergh, in his totally disingenuous speech, seemed to be saying that it was just that the finances are not right, that the Government did not really mean its promises and that it really meant it would fulfil them only if there was lots of money available. However, the voting public believed what it was told, as did parents and the people running the schools. The Government then came into office and said it was sorry, but it was not going to happen. That is not good enough.

The Labour Party did a survey a couple of years ago on the cost of running schools in the course of which we sent a letter to all schools in the country. I would like to give some examples of what was written in reply.

Our school account is presently running a €14,000 overdraft! Cheques bounce from time to time and we are often phoned by our Bank Manager.

Another quote is as follows:

It is impossible to keep the heating at a comfortable level. The school is very cold today and I have just been informed that there is no oil! This (the cost of oil) has not been pencilled in to the overdraft (€20,000) I negotiated.

Another letter stated:

I am angry and frustrated. We pulled out of a twinning project with an English and a Dutch school because of EMBARRASSMENT! ... We visited their schools (wonderfully clean and bright facilities) and we hung our heads in shame when they came to us. We found we spent all our time apologising for the poor conditions!

The last quote may be of some relevance here: "Imagine if the TD in the Dáil had to sell raffle tickets to pay for their office to be painted!"

That is the reality of what is going on in schools around the country. It must stop. We can afford to give our children the best possible start. We can afford to give them proper conditions in schools. We can afford to give them class sizes that allow them to learn. We can afford to give them equipment for sport. Something I feel strongly about is that many schools around the country, apart from having no equipment, do not even have PE halls. The children can only exercise if the weather is appropriate for going outside.

As many people have already said in the course of this debate, parents are being forced to shop in certain shops to raise money for equipment for the schools. This is not acceptable. It is not appropriate that children in this country do not have access to PE, particularly in view of the growing rate of obesity among young people. If they do not get that start in primary school and become used to physical activity and being involved in sport, they are much less likely to take it up at a later stage. This applies particularly to girls, who are consistently under-represented in sport. We need to address this issue.

With regard to the cancellation of the summer works scheme, Deputy Mansergh was, again, playing with words when he said he was looking forward to its being restored. The summer works scheme is gone. Schools used to use this scheme for all sorts of repairs and minor works that needed to be done during the summer holidays. It was very much appreciated by schools. I do not understand why it is gone, because it was one of the most effective schemes run by the Department of Education and Science. This is another cut about which the public was not warned before the general election.

I am concerned about the difficulties being experienced by parents in obtaining needs assessment and the support they require for children with special needs in schools. There are waiting lists of up to two years to see educational psychologists and so on. Again, the children are not getting the start they deserve. Children with special needs, more than any other children, need that.

See this speech in context