Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Government is going to bring mayhem to classrooms, cause savage disruption for parents all over the country and deliberately do down the education of the young. Children need to be in classes of a reasonable size in order to be able to compete with their peers internationally. We will fall behind in that regard by virtue of the Government's decision.

Does the Taoiseach accept that a pay freeze for those in the public sector earning more than €50,000 per year for 12 months would yield €300 million? That money would save all of the services that are to be cut, namely, books for travellers, language resource teachers, resource teachers and cover and substitution where required. In that way, the Government would not inflict, by deliberate short-sightedness, absolute mayhem on schools or cause consternation for parents all over the country.

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