Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the education sector. I congratulate Sinn Féin on tabling the motion. It was interesting to hear the Minister's contribution earlier in which he quoted statistics from the OECD as a justification for the spending on education and said we are meeting the OECD average. He criticised the Sinn Féin figures, saying they are from 2007 and not up to date. However, the OECD figures quoted by the Minister are from 2011 and are a couple of years out of date. They do not take into account the €200 million in cuts that have taken place under this Minister in the lifetime of this Government and the impact that is having on the education of young people throughout the country.

It is vital that we recognise education as a right. The Minister should fight the battle on behalf of education as an investment rather than a spend for the Government. That would change the way education is perceived and treated. It is an investment. It is an investment in the future of this country and in children for the future. If this country is to recover, it must have a highly educated workforce that is capable of availing of a recovery when it comes. That is vital.

The reality on the ground gives a lie to the Minister's arguments about the spending taking place in education. He should attend the public meetings on this issue that are taking place throughout the country. There was one in Donegal last night. The reality is that class sizes are out of control. Many students are suffering due to these class sizes and it impacts on the quality of the education they can receive. In Donegal, almost 4,000 children in primary school are in classes of more than 30 and 86% of all children in the county are in class sizes of more than 20. That has a huge impact and is putting huge strain on the schools. It is vital to keep class sizes down and reduce their size. The Government is talking about possibly increasing class sizes in the next budget.

We should look at what is happening in other European countries. Indeed, the country the Government constantly says Ireland does not wish to resemble, Greece, has an average class size of 16.8. It is 24.7 in Ireland. These countries in programmes of support have protected their education sectors and their children by keeping class sizes small, yet this country has increased them. We must defend the sector against that.

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