Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

Fianna Fáil has some nerve in talking about safeguarding education spending or commending its own record. It is quite extraordinary. Its record includes cutting Traveller education resources, putting a cap on special needs assistance and cutting the co-ordination of rural services for the disadvantaged, in other words, hitting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged sections of society. There are fewer people working in the education system than in 2008, with a drop of more than 1,000 staff. Fianna Fáil can spin all the figures it likes, but the truth is it cut the numbers working in the education system.

Let us not forget the commitment to reduce class sizes to 20, a commitment which was reneged upon. We are now talking about an average class size of 28, but, of course, we know that in many areas the figures are much higher, with 30 to 35 in classes. Other cuts, too, are being targeted such as in the teacher allocations for gaelscoileanna. It is expected that in some schools there could be class sizes of up to 40 in the short term.

The truth is that Fianna Fáil presided over a serious deterioration in the quality of the education system, hitting the most disadvantaged in particular. Significantly, while the figures for teachers have increased in some areas, this is against a backdrop of 10,000 extra children feeding into the system every year. Therefore, the extra resources provided are not keeping pace with the demographic tsunami sweeping through the system. A massive increase in resources is necessary.

Neither the Government nor the Opposition can seriously claim education is important and should be the fuel to help economic growth and recovery unless they are willing to raise the proportion of moneys being spent on education to average European and OECD levels. We spend a much smaller proportion of our national wealth on education compared to most of our European and OECD counterparts, despite the fact that this country has become significantly richer in recent years. That is the real test, how much we put into education as a proportion of national wealth. The figure has been falling. Sadly, the Government has signalled its intention not to reverse the cuts made and has made no concrete pledges to increase the proportion of education spending. That is what we need. All the rest are just weasel words.

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