Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Because of the number of international students, there are a number of additional posts in the school, particularly for language and resource teaching. The school is one hour short of the 22 hours required for a learning resource teacher. The bungling and red tape between the HSE and the Department of Education and Science means the school cannot get the extra hour that has been approved in principle.

This problem is not exclusive to our cities. Scoil Naomh Pádraig in Ballymurphy in County Carlow is a rural school that expects to take in 11 extra pupils next September. It too is facing the loss of its third teacher because of the Minister's U-turn on class sizes. Both of these schools expect a significant expansion in pupil intake for next September, yet they will be penalised with respect to last September's figures. This is no way to plan the educational future of our children, the teachers who work in our schools or the parents who turn out to support our schools. These are just two of the 28 schools with similar stories. This is no way to plan schooling in urban areas and no way to support rural schools.

I regret the Green Party is absent from the debate.

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