Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

This debate marks an important point in the national discussion on this issue. Deputies on all sides of the House have been given notice of the scale of the challenges faced by Ireland. Most of the parties represented in this House are committed to reducing the national deficit to 3% of GDP by 2014. As a result, the public will get its first opportunity to compare and contrast the potential solutions on offer. Over the next few weeks, as we finalise and publish our four-year plan and prepare for budget 2011, the public will be watching closely, in the expectation that this House can demonstrate that Ireland has the political leadership necessary to overcome its current economic challenges. They will not be alone in that regard. Our EU partners, the ECB, the markets and our foreign direct investors will be also watching. The eyes of many people will focus on Ireland in the expectation that we will set out a clear path. They expect a multi-annual strategy that paves a course for economic recovery, meets our agreed commitments and has a certain measure of broad political agreement. This is not an easy challenge. I accept that politically, this is a difficult space for the parties opposite. They must be tempted to exchange soundbites for poll ratings, rather than getting involved in the business of making detailed and difficult choices. Therefore, I welcome the constructive nature of many of the speeches that were made yesterday. I repeat the over-quoted phrase that this is not a time for politics as usual.

The Government announced on Tuesday that an overall adjustment of €15 billion will be warranted over the next four years. The amount of work that has been already undertaken to rectify our finances could be forgotten in that context. Budgetary savings of 14.5 billion have been made in the past two years. As we know how difficult it was to achieve such savings, we do not under-estimate the challenge of achieving the same again, albeit over a longer period of time. The greater the savings that are required across the various areas of government, the more difficult it will be to minimise the impact on core services and commitments. The figures for the Department of Education and Skills are illustrative in that context. Its current budget of €8.59 billion accounts for 16% of the Government's gross voted current expenditure. Some 75% of the Department's Vote is accounted for by pay and pension payments, which are determined by the numbers in the sector and by pay and pension rates. Given that we have agreed not to change pay rates, any savings must be achieved by reducing staff numbers or from the non-pay component of the Vote, which comes to €2.14 billion. The employees in the education sector, more than 80% of whom are teachers, special needs assistants and lecturers, account for approximately one third of total public sector numbers. The non-pay component of my Vote covers areas like funding for schools and universities, supports for students who are less well-off, school transport, investment in research and development, training allowances for FÁS and other courses, and day-to-day office running costs.

The choices we have to make are extremely difficult. The challenges we face are compounded by the year-on-year upward demographic trend. The number of pupils in our primary schools increased by 5,000 in the past year. It is projected that total primary enrolment will increase by a further 7,000 in the 2011-12 school year, to reach a level of 517,200. It is further projected that it will increase to 529,000 in the 2012-13 school year and to over 543,000 in the 2013-14 school year. These figures mean that if the current pupil-teacher ratios and allocation models are deployed, we will have to provide funding for an estimated 600 additional teachers in September 2011. The additional pupil numbers will also require proportionate additional resources in terms of special needs assistants, etc. This is just at primary level - enrolments are also increasing at second level and in higher education, with the consequent demands on resources. The growth in the number of children of schoolgoing age also places considerable demands on the Department's capital budget. Every Deputy is aware of a school that needs an additional classroom or new school buildings to cater for additional enrolment numbers. It is difficult to meet all of these demands at a time of considerable constraint, when the Government has to reduce public expenditure in real terms.

I highlight these points not to cause undue concern but to set out the real challenges we face. Any perception that education can consider itself immune from the impact of a severe restriction in Government spending is mistaken. The challenge faced by my Government colleagues and I, which will have to be addressed by the parties opposite when they present their proposals, is how to achieve savings in the education sector in a balanced and measured way that does not have a detrimental impact on the systemic importance and strengths of our education and skills infrastructure. An effective education and training system can give our young people the skills needed to restore our economic well-being. It can play a major role in reducing inequality and helping to break the cycle of poor educational outcomes, poor employment prospects and long-term poverty in which some people get trapped. The majority of principals, teachers, lecturers and those who manage our schools, training centres, institutes and universities are deeply committed to ensuring young people, and increasingly the not so young, are in a position to access the best opportunities through education and training.

Given our role in this House in ensuring we get the best possible outcome and value from the taxpayers' investment in education, I am more convinced than ever that we must ask searching questions about what we do, and how we do it, throughout the education and training system. In the past seven months, I have instigated a programme of quiet but increasingly substantive reform. This has resulted, among other initiatives, in the implementation of a new system of induction and probation for teachers, parents and students being given a greater say in whole school evaluations, a new framework for the recognition of patronage at second level, the introduction of bonus points for achievement in higher level maths, greater involvement of the private sector in the provision of training for the unemployed and the decision to have a smaller number of stronger VECs. Many other reforms are in the pipeline. In addition to restructuring the higher level sector, I intend in the new year to provide for a renewed and freshly mandated training agency to assume the training work of FÁS.

Our focus on quality in the past has served us well but we need to do more.

The time is right for an overhaul of teacher education and we need to implement significant changes to the way in which we train our teachers, in particular post-primary teachers. I intend to roll out considerable curriculum reforms. I also intend that a greater number of education services will be delivered and managed locally through our strengthened VECs, among other initiatives. While the process of change and reform across our education system must be constant, now more than ever presents the opportunity to ensure our education and training system is strengthened and better equipped to serve our future needs.

Acceptance and implementation of the Croke Park agreement will be key in this regard. As the Taoiseach highlighted yesterday, it is an instrument not only to enable the public service to live within its means but to transform it to meet those future needs. In education, its full acceptance and implementation will ensure considerable reform and secure additional productivity from teachers and lecturers. It will bring visible benefits to parents and students as activities which up to now required school closures will be carried out without a loss of school time. For example, its implementation will secure an additional hour every week from teachers and lecturers. It will see teachers who participate in the supervision and substitution scheme being available for a third period of supervision each week. It will allow for the implementation of a much-needed scheme of redeployment at second level. It will allow for a wider review of the teaching contract and will also allow for more flexibility in the delivery of courses at third level. These are significant reforms that will result in welcome flexibility and productivity gains across the sector, the value of which should not be underestimated.

The challenge with the majority of these reforms, in particular in the context of our discussion on the macro-budgetary position, is that while reform on this scale will ensure much better value for the taxpayer's investment, in cold and hard accounting terms, the resultant savings in current expenditure are minimal in the short to medium term.

Therefore, as we face into the four year plan and budget 2011, this remains the challenge for those of us in Government and for those suggesting comprehensive alternatives to Government proposals. I look forward with interest to further reasoned proposals from Members and, where appropriate, will take them into consideration.

The weeks ahead will be challenging. In Government we will continue our work of careful consideration of the different options and choices to ensure we meet our commitments, balance our books, renew our economy and secure our ability to determine our own future. Our statements this week and our debate in the weeks ahead are essential to ensure our people understand the choices facing this country, the decisions being taken by Government and the alternatives that will be argued and the reasons for each.

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