Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Ceann Comhairle as ucht an deis an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a phlé anseo inniu. Tá daoine i mo dháilcheantair buartha agus tá eagla orthu i dtaobh an ábhair seo. Tá muintir Chiarraí ag lorg athraithe ar an bpolasaí seo.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this matter and the Minister for being present in the Chamber to discuss it with me. As someone who is in her first year in the job, I acknowledge that this is an issue she has inherited and is not a problem of her doing, but it is to be hoped it is something she will be able to address. The issue to which I refer is the threshold changes for small two, three and four-teacher schools, primarily in rural parts of the country. It was introduced in the 2012 budget at the end of 2011 and has seen the thresholds for two, three and four-teacher schools increase from 12 to 20, 49 to 56 and 81 to 86, respectively. In Gaeltacht areas the threshold has increased from 76 to 86, which is a very large jump. The problems being created as a result are causing major difficulties for children throughout the country who find themselves in much larger classes, sometimes in rooms with three, four or even five streams of 27, 28, 29 or 30 children.

I acknowledge that we have a problem with class sizes in Ireland in general. In urban areas it is not uncommon to have class sizes of more than 30 children with one teacher. That is now happening in rural areas, but to compound the problem there are three, four or five streams in many classrooms. Having spent a brief amount of time in the classroom, I would rather teach 35 children in one stream than 30 children across four or five streams. It is giving children, predominantly those in rural areas, a poorer start in life.

The real tragedy is that the changes have not resulted in a significant cash saving. The figures involved are quite low. According to a response to a parliamentary question I tabled, the amounts involved were about €2 million in 2012-2013 and €2 million or €2.5 million in 2013-2014. There may be a cumulative figure of more than €10 million over a number of years, but that does not take into account the long-term impact or the cost of keeping on the dole someone who would otherwise be in employment. This needs to be a priority for the Government. I appreciate this is an issue the Minister has inherited, but she has an opportunity to try to find a solution.

I have raised this matter consistently. I find myself in the Dáil again today and have spoken about this on the Topical Issues debate numerous times. I have raised the matter at committee level. Behind closed doors I have raised the matter at parliamentary party level. I have raised the matter directly, individually and privately with Minister and the Taoiseach.

Rural communities are suffering as a result of this. There may have been a case to be made in the past for clusters of small two-teacher schools, all of which were close to each other, with 12 or 13 pupils. There is a big difference between that and the situation I outlined, where there may be 55 children in a school which is isolated and amalgamation is not an option. Such schools may have two teachers with 25 or 30 pupils across multiple streams in two classrooms. With an improving economy and increased revenue coming in, this must be a priority we can address. It is something we need to tackle. We need to put our children first.

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