Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his presentation of the Revised Estimate. It is more than just an engagement between Government and Opposition. It is an important constitutional function of the Minister and the Government to present the Revised Estimate to the Dáil and for the Dáil to consider it, as we are doing. It is very important that we take this role seriously, particularly in a case where a Government does not have a majority.

Many items in this Revised Estimate are welcome. We support and want to see a reduction in class sizes, which, as the Minister said, is a huge priority of everybody, including the Fianna Fáil Party. Indeed, it is one of the items in the education sector which is referenced in the supply and confidence arrangement that we have with the Government party, Fine Gael. It is very important that, while progress is being made on that, further progress needs to be made. Reducing class sizes has to happen at a serious rate in the coming years and it must be possible to reach an average class size of 23 pupils at primary level in the next five years, within our budgetary parameters.

There is also the issue of the staffing ratio in small schools. While the recent changes, which were a row-back on what was done in 2011-12, are welcome, we must put small schools on a firm footing. A simple commitment of the programme for Government to say they will not go without the parents' say-so is not enough. There must be a financial commitment from Government to the small schools and the rural communities of this country.

We welcome the increase in the special education budget, in particular for SNAs. However, there is a huge amount of catch-up to be done. The real test will come if the Minister is proven right on this. He is saying there is now a sufficient number of SNAs to meet the assessed need but that will obviously be in the eyes of the beholder. We will be interested to hear from schools and parents, in particular, as to how their assessments went and whether their children will have the benefit of an SNA, as required. We will have to withhold judgment on whether there are enough SNAs until we get feedback but I can say with certainly that some are already saying they are not satisfied with the allocations.

The Estimate allocates funding to new policy developments in regard to junior certificate reform, which is very important. It is a fact, however, that the Minister has not yet met the ASTI - in fact, I understand he has not met any of the teaching unions at this stage. I do not know why that would be the case, except that there are holdouts in the ASTI on a number of issues, one of which is junior certificate reform. This is something that does not just require funding; it urgently requires the Department and the Minister to make sure there are no children left at a disadvantage because of the impasse in regard to the reforms in certain schools. That has to happen and it is no use telling the Dáil there is extra money for this when, in fact, in some schools, teachers will refuse to implement it because of an industrial relations dispute.

It requires a degree of urgency and I am disappointed, whoever is at fault. While I will not attribute the entire blame to the Minister, it is a fact that he and the ASTI have not met. I urge both sides to agree to meet without conditions to deal with that issue and to get this sword of Damocles, which will be hanging over certain students for the next few years, withdrawn.

The Minister and the ASTI have a responsibility in this regard. This must be dealt with and it can be dealt with through talking, most importantly, or at least trying to talk which at the moment does not even seem to have occurred.

There is extra funding for ICT which is welcome. We need to continue the roll-out of broadband to all schools. We will always have problems with this, and I will alert the Department to those of which I am aware. Maintenance funding needs to be put on a more predictable basis by the Department because it is a key issue for schools with regard to how they maintain and update.

An issue which has been brought to my attention by senior trade unionists is that in the Revised Estimates €2 million has been put forward to assist the development of technological universities. In tandem with this, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, has announced, certainly in the case of the Munster technological university, an allocation of €1.2 million in funding to support the project announced-----

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