P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I am disappointed but not surprised that it is a Cork Minister for Education and Science who is now forcing the principals of Our Lady of Mercy School, Bantry, and Scoil Mhuire national school, Schull, to sack one of their teachers. I accept this is not the Minister's fault but I hope he will correct it. The Minister has inherited a false promise from his predecessor, former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Mary Hanafin, who two weeks before the last general election gave a commitment to reduce class sizes, thus hoodwinking many voters and saving Fianna Fáil many seats that it would otherwise have lost. However, she has paid the price and been moved sideways to other pastures. The electorate will have its chance for revenge in the local elections next year.

In a time of economic contraction, it is the Minister's job to protect the interests of our school-going children. If he were to amend the order and allow these 40 schools to at least maintain the status quo, he would be doing his job. Just over three hours ago I was contacted about Scoil Mhuire national school in Schull which was informed today that it will lose a teacher in September, reducing it from a five teacher to a four teacher school with one class now having 35 children. This makes a mockery of the Minister's so-called target of 28:1. I will raise this specific issue with the Minister at a later date.

It is bad enough that the Department makes school principals and boards jump through bureaucratic cartwheels for years to get school building projects moved on to the next stage of a shaky rope ladder to which they will have to hang on until it is approved at some unknown date in the future. I will come back to this subject another day when I will look for definite commitments in respect of a number of schools building projects in Cork South-West that have been lost in the pipeline.

It is nothing short of a disgrace, with schools in Cork South-West already suffering from a lack of funding and overcrowding, that Our Lady of Mercy School in Bantry and Scoil Mhuire national school, Schull, have been ordered to let go another teacher. I ask that the Minister maintain the status quo and allow these 40 teachers to remain in the classroom, teaching our children, and that he keep his promise to reduce the ratio by one more next year.

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