Education has taken centre stage this week. The protests held outside the House yesterday by many people who work in the education sector brought this matter into sharp focus. I regret that this is the case.

I acknowledge the vast contribution teaching staff make to the lives of children. Teaching staff in this country are extremely committed and professional and I commend them on their efforts. Like most other Members, I came through the education system and I fully understand and appreciate the professional service provided in schools throughout the country.

I come from a rural area in County Donegal and I attended a small primary school in which there were two teachers. The big event at our school was the day on which the lorry carrying turf arrived and students were allowed to leave their classes in order to transfer the turf from the roadside to the coal shed at the rear of the building. This was the sum of our extracurricular activities. It is sometimes worth one's while recalling how things used to be. I am still a young man but even if I cast my mind back only a few years, I remember there was little discussion regarding disadvantage or special needs. Unfortunately, many children were left behind because the additional services they required were not available when I attended school.

It is time to acknowledge the services that are available today. There are approximately 19,000 adults in our schools who work solely with children with special needs. I will break that figure down because it is worthwhile discovering the way in which these resources are utilised. Some 10,000 of the adults to whom I refer are special needs assistants, SNAs. In 1997 there were only 300 SNAs in our schools. A further 7,800 are resource and learning support teachers, of whom there were just 2,000 in 1998. Some 1,100 other teachers are involved in supporting children in special schools, while hundreds more work in special classes.

In the budget, €10 million is being provided for children with special educational needs. Among other benefits, this will provide a 33% increase in the money available to the Department's psychological service. As a result, more psychologists will be working with children in our schools during the coming year. It will also provide additional funding for the National Council for Special Education and enhance its capacity to co-ordinate the provision of services at local level for children, parents and schools.

There has been much discussion of cuts to services in recent days. It is important to highlight the vast investment that has been provided for education in the budget. A great deal of anger has been expressed with regard to increases in class sizes. It is not ideal to be obliged to implement this measure. However, we must recognise that we are rolling back to the position that obtained in 2007, when people were still provided with an excellent level of education.

Some false information has been disseminated during the past week and I wish to correct some of it. Statements have been made to the effect that class sizes in Ireland are the largest in Europe. That is simply not the case. Furthermore, Ireland's performance in international assessments of achievement underlines the fact that the quality of the education system does not merely equate to class sizes. Surveys carried out for the programme for international student assessment, PISA, indicate that Irish 15 year olds have outperformed students in OECD and EU countries where class sizes are significantly lower than in Ireland. Ultimately, however, I wish to stress that we want to be in a position to reduce class sizes. We intend to resume that exercise in more stable economic times.

It is worth noting that €9.6 billion was allocated in respect of education in the budget. This represents an increase of over 300% in the allocation since 1997. It also represents an increase of €302 million on the amount spent on education in the current year. This is an investment in respect of which the Government, which is doing its utmost to prioritise education, should not be derided.

There are difficult times ahead and we must work together to overcome the problems we face.

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