Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I strongly disagree with the Minister. I accept that her focus must be on dealing with the number of new children starting in our schools, but that ignores the broader point that she has choices in the forthcoming budget. The Government can put money into health and education or into tax breaks for wealthy people. It is not acceptable if that is the kind of budget we get from the Labour Party.

On class size, in the first week of September this year we had 135,000 pupils in super-sized classes. That is an increase from 96,000 in 2006-07. If we look deeper into the figures, some 27,400 pupils are in classes greater than the EU average of 20. We must look into this. More seriously, some 7,100 pupils are in classes of over 30. Will the Minister accept we have a major problem in regard to class size? Will she accept the principle that when one has choices to make in a budget, moneys should be put into services such as health and education rather than given to people who are financially well off?

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