Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"— recognises that:

— at a time of great strain on our public finances, we have to ensure that the very valuable, but limited resources available to the education system are used in the best way possible; and

— public services, including schools, must continue to be an important part of the social fabric of rural communities;

— notes that:

— as part of the Budget 2012 decisions, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools will be gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014;

— there are 3,200 primary schools across Ireland, of which over two thirds of those schools have more than 86 pupils and have much higher average class sizes than the small primary schools;

— small schools receive much more favourable capitation and other grant payments due to the practice of minimum payments: for example, schools receive a minimum capitation payment based on a 60 pupil enrolment, meaning that a school with 12 pupils receives the same capitation payment as a school with 60 pupils, in addition to the fact that construction costs per pupil for capital projects are much higher in small schools than in larger schools;

— at present, a two-teacher school with 12 pupils has an average class size of 1 teacher for 6 pupils, while in contrast, a typical ten-teacher school with 272 pupils has an average class size of 27.2 pupils;

— a value for money review on small primary schools is currently being finalised by the Department of Education and Skills, submissions for which, were invited from the public as part of a public consultation process during 2011 and a large number of responses were received;

— while the threshold for additional teachers in small schools will rise, a small school will still receive a second teacher with 14 pupils, a third teacher with 51 pupils and a fourth teacher with 83 pupils in September 2012; and

— as a result of these changes the average class sizes in small schools will still be as low as 7:1 in a two-teacher school, 17:1 in a three-teacher school and 20.75:1 in a four-teacher school in September 2012;

— acknowledges that:

— even when all of these phased increases are implemented, the threshold for small schools will still be significantly lower than the minimum of 28 pupils that was required for the appointment of a second teacher in schools prior to the mid-1990s;

— it is hoped that the three-year phasing in of this measure will allow communities the opportunity to debate the possibility of amalgamations or clustering arrangements within their communities;

— if amalgamations take place, they will be voluntary and follow decisions taken by local communities and not by the Department of Education and Skills; and

— the value for money review is part of the normal review processes undertaken by all Departments on an annual basis on selected areas of expenditure and is being conducted in line with the standard procedure for value for money reviews; and

— welcomes that:

— the Department of Education and Skills will be notifying schools in the coming weeks of the new staffing arrangements for the 2012/13 school year;

— small schools will continue to benefit from additional favourable supports as outlined above;

— the Budget measure relates to the allocation of teaching posts and is not a measure to close small schools;

— an independent Primary Staffing Appeals Board is available to all schools as part of the allocation process each year; and

— in particular, this appeals mechanism will be available to those small schools which are projecting increased enrolments that would be sufficient to allow them to retain their existing classroom posts over the longer term."

I will share time with Deputies Colm Keaveney and Jim Daly.

It is important to recognise the overall financial and budgetary context in which Ireland is operating. We are relying on funding being provided through the EU-IMF programme of support for the provision of our day-to-day public services, including funding for our education system, as nobody else is willing to lend Ireland money at an affordable interest rate. It is also worth reminding the House that the extraordinarily difficult position in which we find ourselves has arisen from the catastrophic mistake by the previous Fianna Fáil-led Government to inextricably link sovereign debt, the debt of this Republic, with the debts of bankers and speculators when it introduced, in this Chamber, the ill fated bank guarantee in September 2008.

See this speech in context