Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I second Deputy Hayes' motion in the name of the Fine Gael Party and I thank him for sharing time with me. This Private Member's motion highlights the Government's failure to adhere to a commitment in the programme for Government to reduce class size on a year by year basis, eventually ensuring that there will be one teacher for every 24 students by 2011. It remains unclear how many schools and teachers will be affected by this failure. Some 28 schools have declared a loss of teachers, but many others will receive notification of further cuts from the Department in the next couple of months.

The new Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has suggested that his Department's failure to adhere to the proposed staffing schedule is due to the current economic and budgetary environment. However, the Government also reneged on its commitment during the Celtic tiger era of budget surpluses. The programme for Government in 2002 stated that the Government would continue to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in our schools and would progressively introduce maximum class guidelines, ensuring that the average class size for children under nine would be below the international best practice ratio of 20:1. When the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, was challenged on those promises, she admitted that this was a noble aspiration. Nothing has been done on this issue since then.

The programme for Government in 2007 stated that the Government would increase the number of primary teachers by at least 4,000, which would enable it to reduce class sizes, while the pupil-teacher ratio would be reduced from 27:1 in 2007 to 24:1 in 2012. It was agreed to reduce class sizes, but the Government did a U-turn on the issue when it abandoned the commitment for economic reasons in last December's budget. The programme for Government pledged to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio to 26:1 by September 2008, but the Government reneged on this promise earlier this year. As a result, schools that would have kept their full complement of teachers will instead see teachers sacked. I ask the Minister to rescind his predecessor's order regarding the schools involved.

There are overcrowded classrooms across the country, with 200,000 pupils in classes of 20 or more. The OECD report stated that Irish classes are the largest in Europe, with an average of 25 per class in 2005. In County Galway, there has been an increase in the number of students in classrooms with over 30 pupils from 2,500 in 2001 to 2,787 in 2007. A quarter of all students in Galway are in classes of 30 or more. Can the Minister state that he is committed to reduce class sizes to that planned originally in 2002, or even that planned in 2007? I support themotion.

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