Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Is oth liom nach bhfuil ach cúig nóiméad agam chun déileáil leis an ábhar rí-thábhachtach seo - ceist siúd atá tacaí breise oideachais uathu ionnas gur féidir leo foghlaim agus tairbhe a bhaint as na huaireanta cloig a chaitheann siad ar scoil. Fiú in am an tíogair Cheiltigh, níor chaith muid mar sochaí i gceart leo siúd is boichte nó is leochailí inár sochaí, cé go raibh muid ag dul sa treo cheart sa deireadh thiar - bhí muid ag déanamh beagáinín de dhul chun cinn. Ní fíor sin anois, áfach, maidir leis an Rialtas seo. Tá sé tar éis díriú isteach orthu siúd a shíleann sé nach bhfuil guth acu chun an todhchaí a bhí acu a sciobadh uathu.

Fianna Fáil always targets the sick, the elderly and those marginalised. It targeted the over 70s with their medical card rip-off only a few months ago, it has continuously presided over a chaotic health service and now it is targeting the most vulnerable again, with a €6 million snatch of funds for special needs classes. I issue a challenge here and now to the trade union movement in the stalled partnership talks to demand a reversal of this punitive cut.

There is absolutely no logic, even in these stringent times, for penalising those most in need and that is exactly what this cut does. The lousy €6 million the Minister will save in this cut is one-tenth of what the Government is spending on horse and greyhounds chasing their tails. Are dogs more important than children? That, at the end of the day, is what it boils down to and the Government needs to address that.

In the past few months I have received many emails from parents, teachers and students in my constituency and beyond who are angered and in despair at the abolition of the special needs classes. Hundreds of children will be directly affected by this cut which will see them lose vital supports and services they need to achieve a robust education. Literally thousands of other children will be also affected by this, due to the extraordinary additional pressures and burden which must be overcome by teachers in the mainstream classes, which are already overcrowded and trying to tackle other issues. The Government is robbing children of their future for a paltry saving of €6 million when executives of publicly guaranteed banks are walking around with bonuses of €1 million, €2 million or whatever.

At the time this cut was announced I asked the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to point to any educational rationale to underpin his ruthless decision and he was not able to do so. Rather he claimed at the time, and I presume he still does, that the needs of these children will be adequately met in mainstream classes with limited learning supports. If that were true, why set up the special classes in the first place? That is illogical. That answer, in fact, is a lie. I am sorry, I am not supposed to say that a Minister would lie.

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