Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I broadly support the principle of this Bill. It is not an earth-shattering Bill nor is it of any great importance.

I acknowledge the role the religious orders have played in the running of schools over the past century or centuries. It is easy to knock them in light of recent abuse cases. Too much emphasis has been placed on the control of schools. I have no difficulty with any model, be it the VEC, Educate Together or Gaelscoil model, but believe we have missed the point regarding primary education. I would like children to have access to Gaelscoileanna country-wide. It is important to acknowledge the high percentage of people who speak or are competent in Irish in Carlow town. Gaelscoil Eoghain Uí Thuairisc, County Carlow was founded some 30 years ago by a Clare woman, Bríd de Róiste. She has generated a love of Irish in that community and it is important that all children, resources permitting, have access to Irish.

This Bill is not earth shattering. The issue of primary education is dear to my heart. It is an issue on which I have spoken many times since becoming a Member of this House. Rather than improving, our education system has deteriorated. I am concerned about the difficulties being experienced with numeracy and literacy. Every child that comes out of the primary system should be able to read and write. However, this is not the case. I would hazard a guess that the statistics in this regard have deteriorated in recent years and for a number of reasons, the main one being that the curriculum has in recent times become too broad. Teachers do not have the time to put emphasis on the basic foundation stones of any education, numeracy and literacy. We are teaching children how to write creatively when some cannot join up letters or write at all. Weaker children in particular are suffering as the teacher moves on with stronger students in the group. I would like the Department or Minister to run a ruler over any available statistics in regard to the time spent on numeracy, literacy and Irish some ten, 15 or 20 years ago relative to today. There is a strong correlation between the number of people who currently have literacy difficulties and the amount of time spent on teaching in that regard.

I am a great believer in equality of opportunity. One cannot guarantee equality of outcome but one should ensure equality of opportunity. There are only two methods by which this can be achieved, namely, through the education system and the housing system. Our housing policy in terms of social housing has failed dramatically. Generation after generation of people are living in ghettos in various parts of the country. On dyslexia, many primary teachers do not know how to recognise this difficulty. Many children go through the primary system without this difficulty having been identified. We must put resources into primary education to ensure equality of opportunity. It is too late to address this difficulty when children reach second level. I am sure the argument will be made that we do not have the resources to provide special needs assistants.

I compliment the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Ó Cuív, on bringing forward the proposals in regard to work fare as opposed to welfare, a subject which is dear to my heart. The vast majority of the 460,000 plus people who are unemployed would be happy to do some sort of work. This would benefit their self esteem and society. One of the greatest assistants a teacher can have in a classroom is the parent of a child experiencing difficulty. Many parents who are in receipt of jobseekers or various other allowances would be happy to assist a teacher in the classroom. I have visited schools where this is in practice and it is working well. This practice could be introduced countrywide.

I recall the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Martin, as Minister for Health and Children back in the halcyon days of 1998 making great pronouncements about every classroom having a computer. Many of these computers are lying around covered in dust because teachers have not been trained to use them or are not competent in computer usage. Parents could also be brought in to assist teachers in the use of computers. Our most experienced teachers, generally principals, are caught up in administration of schools, leaving them little time to focus on education issues. We must consider the concept of grouping schools and appointing an administrator to look after them, leaving principals, who very often have come through the school system and have 20 or 30 years educational experience, to concentrate on educational matters and the difficulties being experienced by many children owing to the breakdown in home units rather than counting sweeping brushes, checking car park spaces or potholes in the school car park. This resource too is freely available. I ask the Minister to consider the concept of appointing on a pilot basis an administrator to a group of schools. An administrator could, for example, be appointed to look after three or four schools in the constituency of North Cork, which is represented by the Acting Chairman, Deputy O'Flynn, thereby leaving the principals to concentrate on education matters. Our educational difficulties are playing second fiddle to administrative difficulties.

Many primary schools are in poor condition. I will not list all of them but there are two in my constituency, St. Saviour's in Rathdrum and the primary school in Hacketstown, which has been designated as disadvantaged. The Department needs to revise its list of disadvantaged schools as it may be dated, with some schools that should never have been included placed on the list for spurious reasons. I am aware of some schools that have not been designated disadvantaged and I can only hazard a guess as to why.

Another issue of concern to me, which is not directly related to this Bill but is related to primary education into the future, is that many fine facilities built around the country, for which the Department of Justice and Law Reform granted money, have or will become white elephants during the next few years. These facilities were built with a view to providing easy access to child care for both parents as they were needed in the workforce. The position has now changed. Many of these facilities were built away from educational facilities. We need a policy in regard to where these facilities are being built so that when they are no longer required they can be integrated with school facilities. The facility in Tinahely, County Wicklow was built adjacent to the school.

The HSE, in terms of accessing services such as dental and speech and language services, is the bane of every politician's life. It is difficult to find out who is responsible for what. I am not sure if providing in this legislation that these services will become the responsibility of the HSE will solve the problem. It is difficult to get through to the HSE on the phone let alone get anything done. These services would be better operated by the Department of Education and Science or some arm of it. The health and welfare of our children should be the responsibility of the Minister for Education and Skills.

We are sending out into the wider community children who cannot read and write because our curriculum is too broad. The new curriculum introduced several years ago is flawed. It is time it was revisited.

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