Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

There are 850,000 pupils in first and second level education and 4,000 schools. The Deputy is correct about the unprecedented capital investment programme for school building over the past ten years, something of which this Administration is very proud. In an effort to deal with historic problems, there has also been a need to provide extra teachers quickly — particularly resource teachers for students with specials needs. These were in their tens and hundreds when we came into office and I am glad to say they are now in their thousands. We are providing 8,000 special needs assistants alone and 7,000 resource and learning support teachers. That is an indication of the effort to deal with this issue. The point raised by the Deputy must be seen in that context.

Is there a suggestion that, rather than providing temporary accommodation which is of good quality in many cases, we should wait until the classrooms are built before putting in the teachers? A decision has to be made. We are putting in extra teachers to reduce class sizes, providing extra supports in their thousands as well as a major capital investment programme. This year——

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