Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It is despicable that the previous Government, which brought the troika into this country, particularly targeted children, as the UNICEF report clearly indicated, and gutted the education system with, for example, 100 primary school teachers lost around that time in Dublin West. The present Government has continued to make children and education pay. For example, 98% of second level schools have had to drop subjects. Approximately two teachers have been lost per school. Class sizes are much larger, meaning that there is a mix of levels, and yet the Minister expects teachers to implement a new junior certificate regime. Subjects like accountancy, physics, economics and chemistry, which we keep hearing are essential for foreign direct investment, are the very subjects that are being dropped most in schools when cuts have to be made. Some 30% of schools are losing their guidance counsellors, which seems bizarre in a country with one of the highest levels of youth unemployment. It seems that schools and children are still being made to pay. We heard at the Labour Party conference at the weekend that austerity ended when the troika left. What an insult.

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