Margaret Conlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I remain hopeful.

The Minister spoke at length last night about the positive difference we have made to the education system. I believe we have delivered and will continue to do so. The Government has delivered 2,000 extra teachers in less than two years. Some €9.3 billion is being provided for education this year, a 70% increase since 2002. This level of investment is bringing tangible results via €600 million for school buildings and a doubling of the 2004 expenditure on special education.

The programme for Government provides a clear commitment to increase the number of primary teachers by at least 4,000. This will enable us to make further progress in reducing class sizes. It further sets out a revised basis for the 2010-11 school year of an allocation based on an average of 24 pupils. I welcome and look forward to this being realised. We have always placed education at the top of our agenda and we recognise the need to invest at every stage of the education process to ensure we have well-educated young adults who develop the necessary social and academic skills required to live in an ever-changing world. Without teachers, this process cannot be completed.

It is fundamental that it go forth from this debate that there will be a net increase of almost 500 teachers this year. Five times as many schools are expected to employ an additional teacher due to an increase in enrolments. The Opposition's political opportunism belies the underlying issue of its wanting us to give preferential treatment to some schools. This would have the knock-on effect of having no objective criteria for staffing schedules in our schools. A school which believes it has been treated unfairly under the schedule has a right to appeal. The appeals board operates independently of the Department of Education and Science.

There are many issues and challenges facing the education system going forward. For example, we must meet the challenge of increasing numbers of new children entering our primary and secondary schools. The creation of the ministry for integration policy under the stewardship of Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Conor Lenihan, is a positive step in this regard.

The Government has surpassed its commitment to provide 1,800 language support teachers in primary and secondary schools. Children whose first language is not English are at an inherent disadvantage and the Government is committed to neutralising this weakness and allowing them to flourish and achieve their potential. Furthermore, this diversity in our student population will, I believe, strengthen the education of our Irish children. The intangible benefits of acceptance of multiculturalism or expanding one's knowledge of different languages will lead to a stronger, diverse and more vibrant school population.

A similar noteworthy point is that there has seen significant targeted investment in additional supports for children and young people from disadvantaged communities, and rightly so. In 2008, some €800 million is being provided for such initiatives at all levels of the education system, a 75% increase on the figure for 2003. Under the DEIS action plan, primary schools serving the most disadvantaged communities will benefit from a wide range of extra resources including smaller classes, school meals, intensive literacy and numeracy programmes and additional day-to-day funding. They are also in receipt of home-school-community liaison and school completion services. This is the reality of what Fianna Fáil in Government is doing on the ground.

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