Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

The motion is relatively straightforward. It deals with an issue of fundamental importance in education, namely, how we can give our children the best start in their journey through school. It specifically addresses promises made and broken by a Government which treats local school communities as mere pawns on a chess board, there to be used and abused as fodder for the Fianna Fáil Party at election time. In short, class size matters and the scandal of super-size classes being acceptable in education must become a thing of the past.

It matters that six and seven year old children must try to learn in classes of 30 pupils or more, many weaker pupils are being left behind because crowd control is now the order of the day in so many of our schools, Ireland has one of the highest average class sizes in the European Union and this Administration has reneged on a clear commitment that this issue would be addressed in its first three years. Instead of making progress on class size, we have been moving in the opposite direction in recent years.

The new Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has a golden opportunity to wipe the slate clean and begin delivering on the promises made so forcefully by his party only 12 months ago. He could send out the most positive signal to date on class sizes by agreeing to this motion, the terms of which would prevent the loss of teachers in schools from September only where they would otherwise have kept the teachers had the Government kept its word.

Meeting the terms of the motion would not create a significant cost in the context of the Department's €9.3 billion expenditure allocation for this year. The Minister would give a small sign of goodwill and show flexibility on this issue if he were to accept the motion which would only affect a small number of schools. The schools cited would not lose a teacher if the Government had kept its word. This is the reality they face. Amending the staffing schedule is possible for the schools in question and would indicate a strong sign of intent on the Minister's part that he takes seriously the issue of class size and intends to deliver on it during his stay in Marlborough Street.

Six years after Fianna Fáil promised that by 2007 no child of nine years or under would be in a class of 20 or more, at least 200,000 children find themselves in this position. We do not know if this promise still holds. I want the Minister to state unequivocally where he stands on the commitment. Has he dumped the promise made by his party in 2002 or is it still a priority? This is a straight question to which I want him to give a straight answer on the record tonight.

All the evidence shows that early intervention and small class sizes, particularly for younger children, make a major difference in terms of giving children the best start in school. While smaller classes are not of themselves the only factor in improved educational outcomes, when allied to school leadership, professional development, learning supports and support for special needs, these factors can make all the difference in the early years.

I have been the Fine Gael Party education spokesperson for the past eight months and throughout that time I have not yet met anyone involved in education who can justify how a young child can possibly be given every opportunity in large classes. It is beyond comprehension that in 2008 anyone would claim that seven year old children can get the attention they deserve in classes with as many as 35 children. The motion is important because the Minister can start a process, albeit in a small way, by sending out a signal that large classes in our primary schools will not be tolerated and will become a thing of the past.

The Minister will no doubt point to the new teachers who are being appointed and inform us again of the commitment in the programme for Government to provide 4,000 additional teachers during the lifetime of this Administration. What he will not tell the House is that the vast majority of new teachers appointed will simply go to serve the massive intake of new children entering our primary school system every year. We have more teachers because we have more children coming into the system. Unless a start is made on reducing the staffing schedule, no progress will be made on eliminating large class sizes.

The schools referred to in the motion have been the victims of a Soviet-style planning system which the Department of Education and Science describes as the "staffing schedule". On one day last year — 30 September — the Department asked schools all over the country how many children were on their rolls. In the vast majority of the schools referred to in the motion, last year's enrolment showed numbers had fallen by one or two on the previous year. This small change has resulted in the loss of a teacher in each of the 28 schools despite the fact that many of them have enrolled more children since 30 September last year. This is a ridiculous way to run a system. Schools which experienced a tiny reduction in their numbers were confident they would not lose a teacher because the programme for Government includes a commitment to reduce the staff schedule. However, the commitment was made before the election when, in typical Fianna Fáil style, promises were made to be broken.

Many Deputies will use this debate to place on record the implications of this broken promise for schools in their constituencies and we make no apologies for doing so. One of the schools listed in the motion is in my constituency of Dublin South-West. The implication for St. Killian's senior national school, which is in my parish of Kingswood Heights in Tallaght, is that the four current fifth classes will have to be reorganised as three sixth classes, each with 30 pupils. Such a measure would break the Department's guidelines on maximum class size. Moreover, each of the three classes will contain pupils with special educational needs who need additional one-to-one attention due to their circumstances. The teacher who will be lost to St. Killian's is currently doing postgraduate work and study in the area of inclusion and special educational needs. This is an example of a real teacher in a real school being let down by the Minister's stroke politics.

During Question Time last week, the Minister suggested his Department's failure to adhere to the proposed staffing schedule was due to the current economic and budgetary environment and a need for prudent expenditure and fiscal management. However, in light of the already overcrowded conditions in classrooms, significant evidence of chronic under-funding of schools, over-reliance on temporary accommodation, dependence on voluntary contributions from parents, cutbacks in grants for minor works and summer works, excessive waiting lists for special needs assessment and services as well as excessive water charges, the commitment on class sizes is the latest in a long line of promises to be broken by the Government and the current programme for Government is not yet one year old. Now is not the time to make education pay for the economic incompetence of this Administration.

Irish class sizes are among the largest in the EU and regarding the OECD — they are just above Korea, Chile, Japan, Turkey, Israel and Brazil. At primary level, the average class size across OECD countries is 22 students per class, while the average in the EU is 20.3. The average primary school class in Ireland comprises 24.3 pupils. We have a long way to go.

Since the start of this year I have tried to obtain from the Minister for Education and Science the list of schools that would lose out from this broken promise. I was first told it was about 50 schools. Having raised the matter as a priority question on 9 April, I was told that information would be sent soon after. As the then Minister, Deputy Hanafin, left the Department by the back door, I finally got the list on 6 May and it contained the names of 40 schools that would lose out. However, when the schools were contacted, only 28 were sure that they had received correspondence from the Department confirming that they would lose a teacher this September. Either some schools still have to be informed by the Minister and his Department or I have deliberately been given misinformation by the Minister. Either way, it represents a shocking indictment of the Minister and his Department, and the way in which schools are routinely treated.

Members opposite have a choice to make tonight and tomorrow night. They either support schools in their own areas and the commitments made in the programme for Government or they can face the wrath of those communities. I propose this motion and I submit that this is the way forward and must play a part in education.

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