Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for Education and Skills has pointed out that there is a clerical error in the motion circulated; the total number of primary teachers should be 31,700, which represents an increase of 51%.

In the last month a series of urgent issues has rightly dominated our discussions in this House. However, we should never lose sight of the need to make sure longer term issues also receive attention. Nobody can question the idea that education lies at the heart of the future of the country. The major expansions in provision and participation levels in the past four decades provided the essential foundations for broad and deep social and economic progress. As we consider the policies required to help Ireland to build a lasting recovery, we should be clear in stating education is a priority.

This is the first time education has been debated in the 31st Dáil. It is not the typical partisan motion which has too often been the mainstay of Private Members' debates in recent years. Our intention is to put before the House a constructive motion based on a core principle which all parties should be able to support. The motion points to a number of areas in which it is impossible to deny progress, but it equally acknowledges that serious problems remain in the education system. It expresses the belief education will be central to recovery and states the House believes it should be a priority. It attacks nobody and demands no extra spending. It simply states that in the allocation of what is available education and training should be a priority. We believe it is important for the Dáil to make this statement not just because it is early in a new term but also because budget policy is being discussed by the Government and important decisions will be made in the near future.

In the past few weeks there has been a number of occasions on which a wider consensus of the House could have been achieved on a motion had the Government been willing either to consult the Opposition or pass up an opportunity to introduce an amendment to require the Opposition to endorse the Government. I hope the Government will not insist on pursuing this tactic in tomorrow night's vote, but it is clear from the reaction of the Minister for Education and Skills that this will be the case. There is nothing in the motion which is incompatible with the manifesto of either Government party or the programme for Government. On a number of occasions in the last month we have supported Government proposals and I hope this will be reciprocated in the vote on this motion.

One of the great failings of debate in this House has been that issues have been approached in an almost cartoonish way by different sides. Our debates are generally framed around the idea that everything can be seen as black or white. The Opposition denies progress and the Government is reluctant to concede that there are problems. A new variation was pursued by the Government last month when it was implied that nothing positive had happened in Ireland before 9 March. I acknowledge the ingenuity of Government scriptwriters in finding new ways to explain how policies which were disastrous on 8 March are radical and visionary today. The ungenerous and narrow approach to spinning and diminishing clear advances made in recent years reflects poorly on those involved. They would be well advised to understand such spinning has a habit of rebounding badly in the long run. Fundamentally, we cannot have a constructive debate on policy if we insist on denying progress has been made. It is not possible to set a credible and effective agenda for the future of the education system if we blindly refuse to give any credit for past policies or accept that many things are better today than they were in the past.

Serious issues remain to be addressed in the education system in the years ahead. Many of these have been identified in the programme for Government and were identified by parties on all sides of the House during the campaign in February. However, let us not fail to recognise what has been achieved or fall into the trap of believing every problem we face is uniquely Irish. I recognise there are unique elements to our system, but the underlying educational issues in areas such as literacy and standards are ones shared with many countries. The fact is there has been significant expansion in every element of the education system in recent years. Resources have expanded, as have the positive outcomes in the system. Class sizes in Ireland are high in some schools, but they have been steadily reduced in all schools and are today at their lowest levels in history. There are many schools in significant need of capital investment, but the largest building and refurbishment programme in our history has been under way for many years. The OECD has shown that, on average, our school buildings rate well internationally. Participation in third level education remains unequal, but the rate of increase has been fastest in groups which have historically had very low participation rates.

While education is at the core of any commitment to social progress, its economic role is undeniable. At a time of enormous pressures those areas of the economy most reliant on the education system are also the strongest. In areas in which education based skills and knowledge are the key to success Ireland is continuing to be a world leader. Knowledge intensive industries that are our greatest bright spot present our greatest opportunities for the future. Every serious examination of how Ireland will recover sees export-led, knowledge intensive industries as the essential element. That is why the Dáil should signal that education will be a priority when vital fiscal decisions are taken. It should also support a programme of addressing key weaknesses within the system.

The expansion in the primary education sector in recent years has been unprecedented and is something which happened by choice. In early 1997 the then Government endorsed a fiscal policy based on the idea that there would be a reduction in the number of teachers. It also entrenched capital funding policies which put up an enormous roadblock against parents and communities which wanted to build new schools or expand existing ones. No one in the House could dispute that the move away from this policy towards a sustained programme to increase teaching resources and enable new schools to be provided was the right one. The expansion in the number of primary teaching positions from 21,000 to 31,700 has been enormously beneficial, as has the increase in non-traditional patronage of schools which has been enabled to reach critical mass which allows for further expansion. These new teachers and schools are doing great work which should not be undermined as we seek to deal with our undoubted problems.

I have always had a personal interest in special needs education and intend to raise the issue regularly as my party's spokesperson. I hope Deputies will acknowledge the dramatic increase in support for children with special needs in recent years. By any measure, the increase in the number of special needs assistants from 250 to 10,000 is significant. Each of us, as individuals or public representatives, knows students who have benefited from this worthwhile and necessary investment.

The most recent literacy surveys have highlighted important concerns. While factoring in the reality of non native speakers in the figures, there is no doubt that Ireland needs to improve literacy levels in its primary schools.

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