Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

The net effect of yesterday's statement by the Minister for Finance to the House, in terms of the education budget, is that children will pay the price for Fianna Fáil's incompetence over the past five years. The children in primary and post-primary schools must pay the price for the Government's incompetence, waste and wanton disregard for financial stability.

The Taoiseach lectured the House this morning about honesty in this debate. Let us have that honesty from the other side of the House. When the Minister for Finance gave his statement to the House yesterday, he did not refer to cutbacks in education. Yet, within a matter of two hours, the Minister for Education and Science, who appears to have done a runner today and is not about the place at all, produced a list of cutbacks which runs to 32 in total. There are 32 cutbacks in the Education and Science Vote planned for 2009 but the Minister for Finance in the House did not refer to this yesterday. If we are to take patronising lectures about honesty in this debate, let us put all the information out there and stop spinning, as this Government has done for the past 11 years or so. Let us call it as it is — we are asking children to pay the price for the Government's incompetence. That is the reality that faces teachers, parents and students today.

The education budget here has historically been smaller than education budgets in other European countries because the religious orders provided free education for many years, although that has now changed. We spend approximately 4.6% of our GDP on education, which is the second lowest in the European Union. Another problem is that we have a very high number of students in the age cohort for formal, full-time education. We do not spend enough on education and we spread the money so thinly, throughout the sectors, as to make no real difference. The situation will get much more difficult next year throughout all sectors of education. I want to make one proposal to the Minister for Education and Science when he finally manages to get to his seat today and if he does speak in public on this issue. He needs to publish a revised programme for Government in the education area and stop this wish list and phantom list currently in place to which the Government has allegedly signed up.

I also want to hear from the Green Party. When the deal was done last year, Deputy Trevor Sargent was a bit like Neville Chamberlain with "peace in our time" when he promised €350 million extra in services each year for the next five years. He also promised a reduction in class size and I will come to that. The Green Party has a responsibility to come to the plinth and tell us exactly how it has all gone so wrong. Why has it lost the debate within Government when it comes to the education vote? I never thought I would state this, but even at this stage Deputy Mary Hanafin should return — all is forgiven — as the situation has deteriorated rapidly since her demotion to the Department of Social and Family Affairs only a matter of months ago.

With regard to class size, prior to the general election, 20,000 parents were brought to public halls throughout the country. I call on the same organisation which brought those 20,000 parents into the public domain——

See this speech in context