Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I thank Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan for drafting this legislation which took considerable time and was done in conjunction with many of those who are outside the gates of Leinster House tonight and with the assistance of his staff. The Deputy's abilities might have been exaggerated by a previous contributor who stated he had actively promoted a postcard campaign. I am sure he would be delighted to take the plaudits for that campaign, but I doubt he could have stretched his time to do that work also.

Every Deputy understands that, regardless of whether a school is in an urban or rural area, it will be a focal point, particularly in the absence of other facilities. I have never lived in a rural area, as the bulk of my constituency would be described as urban. Since most of its schools are multi-teacher schools, few will be affected by the changes. For those that will, the changes matter. Even in a county such as Kildare which has experienced rapid population growth for several decades, there are areas with small schools.

For some years I have been critical of the approach taken to the provision of staffing and resources in schools. It is the historical approach, that is, we wait until September to determine the next year's resources. In areas that experience rapid population growth one is always playing catch-up. They tend to be described as commuter belt areas rather than older city areas. In my area the typical class size is 35 pupils, a high number.

Rural schools are the other side of the same coin in this argument. We are failing to examine the demographics across a few years. Instead, we are examining the figures for individual years.

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