Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

The Minister showed last night that he does not know the difference between the pupil-teacher ratio and class size. He asked for partnership with the unions, even though he has met them just once in the last six months. He claims he is still reading his brief. He gives the impression that he is, as Tony Benn put it, "in office but not in power". He is a puppet of the Taoiseach in the Department of Education and Science. That was exposed in his contribution tonight.

The Minister stumbled through the section of his speech relating to numbers. That language cannot hide the fact that next year, our primary schools will lose 1,000 teachers and our post-primary schools will lose between 800 and 1,200 posts. Of course we will get new teachers — that happens when the population increases in an area and the local school is expanded. It is inevitable. However, nothing can belie the fact that approximately 1,000 schools throughout the country will lose teachers next year. The Minister stands indicted for that.

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