Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirleach, as ucht deis a thabhairt dom labhairt ar cheist an oideachais. Our education system has been absolutely ravaged by the austerity measures introduced by Fianna Fáil and pursued by the previous Government. The reality is our children are being taught in overcrowded classrooms. Crowd control has become a dominant feature in too many classrooms throughout the State. Principals are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the costs of running schools and the capitation grant must be increased. Basic costs such as providing heat and lighting are proving difficult and many schools rely on voluntary contributions from hard-pressed families, which is not good enough. We need change in this regard. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds have been impacted directly and indirectly through a combination of cutbacks and policy decisions, which have shifted the burden of the costs of education onto students and their families.

Despite all the spin, there is no new money here. These are the Estimates that were published six months ago and it is important that we clarify this at the outset. I will outline my concerns about a number of specific measures as outlined in the Revised Estimates. The issue of school transport is very topical at present as parents and children are making preparations for another school year. It states in the Revised Estimates that the target for this year is to provide school transport for 111,000 students. However, this is a decrease of 2,000 students from the 113,000 students who availed of school transport last year. I am puzzled as to how the Minister proposes to reduce this number in light of the increasing enrolments throughout the country. I notice also that no additional funding has been allocated to the school transport service despite increasing demographic pressures. I sincerely hope the Minister will hold true to his word on this issue and there will be no cuts in school transport, particularly in rural areas where there are no transport systems.

I welcome any clarification that the Minister can offer in this regard.

Class sizes in Ireland remain the second highest in Europe, with almost one in four pupils in mainstream classes being taught in classes of 30 or more, and this is totally unacceptable. That is 129,428 pupils, an increase of more than 30,000 pupils since 2010. In my constituency of Offaly and north Tipperary, 21% of our children are being taught in classrooms of 30 pupils or more. I welcome the Government's target to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio to 27:1 in 2016. However, this must become action and cannot be just rhetoric and spin. There is no mention of any plans to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in DEIS schools, nor is there any plan to address the issue of oversized classrooms, and this is a bitter disappointment.

At secondary level those from disadvantaged backgrounds are at a huge disadvantage due to the ill-thought-out and misguided cut to guidance counsellors, which has proved to be detrimental. A recent ESRI report stated clearly that those from poorer backgrounds were affected most by this cut. It was short-sighted, unfair and totally unnecessary. Sinn Féin has shown how, through progressive and fair taxation measures, it is possible to have a fairer and more equal society, and in our manifesto we allowed for the full restoration of guidance counsellors, that is, the provision of a guidance counsellor for every 500 pupils ex quota. There is no justification for the Minister not to reverse this cut immediately.

A number of issues regarding third-level and higher education are of great concern to me and my party. The €2 million provided for the establishment of the technological universities is woefully inadequate and does not take into account the complex nature of the merger process and the many other issues. It is important that the Minister understand that, if this project is to be successful, sufficient funding must be allocated to it. It is an issue of huge concern to all stakeholders. I have heard that figures of up to €45 million are required to ensure that the implementation of technological universities is in place, and I am disappointed that the Minister has not allocated sufficient resources to this.

I am also concerned about the €2 million decrease in funding for the provision of school support and related expenses compared with 2015. This contradicts the Minister's assertions that additional funding will be provided for students from disadvantaged backgrounds under the student assistance fund. I welcome the increase in funding to SOLAS in order to provide further education and training activities. However, given the ambitious targets to ensure the increase in the number of apprenticeship places to 50,000, it would appear that this funding will fall far short of what is required.

I heartily welcome the announcement of the provision of additional special needs assistants. However, the Minister needs to be clear here. This is not new money, despite the spin that we have heard during the week. As a teacher with over 12 years' experience in the classroom and somebody who has worked with special needs pupils, I am passionate about this issue, and it is of great concern to many teachers and parents. One of the cruellest cuts made by the last Government was the 15% cut in resource hours for children with special educational needs. This Government has not made any commitment to reverse this cut, and I find this unacceptable and disappointing.

In our manifesto Sinn Féin prioritised the provision of supports for children with special educational needs and we clearly showed how it was possible to reverse these cuts and to provide additional resources to vulnerable children. Education is a fundamental human right and should be available to all of our children, irrespective of their class or individual circumstances. Yet 12 years after it was enacted, the EPSEN Act 2004 still has not been implemented, including parts of it which would be very simple to implement, such as the planning for individual education plans, IEPs, for children with special needs. When I have asked why this Act is not being implemented on a statutory basis I have been told that it would cost too much.

Why is the Minister happy to turn around to the parents of a child with a disability and tell them that the Government of one of the richest countries in the world cannot afford the resources their child needs to access education on an equal footing to his or her peers? Why is he happy to introduce tax cuts to the benefit of the very top earners in this country while our children are being taught in overcrowded classrooms? Why is he happy to take €4 billion out of the State coffers while our schools are struggling to keep the lighting and heating on?

Our education system badly needs investment and resources. It needs vision and new thinking but that is not what has been delivered. This Government is simply continuing where the last one left off, prioritising tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of our public services. This is not new politics, it is just more of the same, and it is not good enough for our children.

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