Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister mentioned figures but with every previous statement on education he spoke of demographic issues and increases in the number of pupils attending schools. He has spoken about extra teachers but the Government is not maintaining the pupil-teacher ratio; that has now deteriorated. There are 27% of children in classrooms with 30 or more pupils around the country. Despite the extra teachers, the number is not keeping pace with the number of new pupils attending schools.

Will the Minister provide funding for the 400,000 people waiting for outpatient appointments? There are people on trolleys in accident and emergency departments in record numbers this year and there are people waiting for operations, which is a very serious issue. Key staff must be hired again in the education sector, including career guidance teachers. Will the Minister do something meaningful about the housing crisis and the homelessness issue that is specifically a creation of this Government?

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