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

I welcome the education measures the Government has introduced, as far as they go. Putting the voting strength of our Deputies to good use in influencing the budget, Fianna Fáil has emphasised a number of key issues in education. First and foremost is the issue of class sizes and the pupil-teacher ratio. Many of the youngest children in our primary schools are being taught in super-sized classes of 30 to 40 children, in particular in constituencies around Dublin and new urban areas in Wicklow, where the Acting Chairman is from, and my constituency of Meath East. Fianna Fáil believes that class sizes must be reduced significantly over the term of the Government and wants to see the pupil-teacher ratio reduced to 23:1. As a first step, the Government has reduced the pupil-teacher ratio to 26:1 which, in fairness, is the lowest it has ever been. As the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, has acknowledged publicly, this was a condition of the confidence and supply agreement on foot of which it became a part of the programme for Government. Bizarrely enough, however, we had to fight for it in the negotiations over the last few weeks. In any event, it has been done and it will be implemented from September next year.

Over the term of this Government, if it lasts, the ambition should be progressively to implement one-point reductions in class sizes, year-on-year. We hope reductions are prioritised for the youngest children under nine years of age as this is where the lowest ratios are shown to have the greatest impact. That is what we want to see from this policy. The cost is relatively modest, requiring only approximately 305 teachers. Over a full year, the cost is approximately €15 million to €18 million. In the overall context of the budget, the figure for the period from next September to the end of 2018 is negligible but its impact will be significant. I am delighted that Fianna Fáil has prioritised this. Fianna Fáil has always prioritised education. This year marks the 80th year since Bunreacht na hÉireann was adopted by the people and became law. We will not go back into the history of who was opposed to it at the time but it was put forward by my party, led by Éamon de Valera. Primary education was really the only socio-economic right guaranteed in the Constitution, which shows the importance Fianna Fáil and Éamon de Valera ascribed to it at the time. Free second level education was introduced 50 years ago this year, again by a Fianna Fáil Minister, Donogh O'Malley. It is a theme throughout the history of our party and one we are keen to continue, in particular in the confidence and supply arrangement we have with the Government.

Average class sizes in Ireland are approximately 25, although many are much bigger. The truth is that there are many small schools, which brings the average down. The European average is 21. Approximately 130,000 primary school pupils are in super-sized classes of over 30 pupils. Almost 10,000 pupils at national school level are in classes of more than 35 pupils, which is not acceptable. The measure in this budget will go some way towards addressing that. My one concern, which is also one that teachers are raising with me, involves teacher supply. Where do we get the teachers to teach? There are a lot of teachers in training but there are also many who are going abroad to work for better pay and conditions in countries where they do not have to worry about their colleagues in the staff room being paid more. There is a severe shortage of teachers at primary and secondary level in this country. This is a matter I have raised a number of times with the Minister during Question Time over the last six months. He will have to take a much more serious and direct approach to this issue. As we seek to recruit more teachers, we will have to ensure that they are there to be employed. The Minister may have to take radical measures, one of which I suggest is to ensure that all teachers are paid along the same pay scales. There is no doubt that pay inequality is leading to some teachers moving abroad.

Fianna Fáil has also prioritised the restoration of guidance counselling in the confidence and supply agreement. Guidance counselling was abolished by the Labour Party Minister, Ruairí Quinn, in 2012. It was one of the most bizarre acts of the last Government and it came at a time when people really needed guidance. The economy was on the floor and students needed hope. Mental health issues were beginning to be identified and looked after, but guidance counselling was removed. It was a terrible decision. However, the truth is that guidance counselling has always been seen as the poor relation by officialdom. It is important that Fianna Fáil, the party which introduced guidance counsellors under Patrick Hillery and, indeed, Donogh O'Malley, is addressing this issue. Guidance counsellors were abolished by Fine Gael in the 1980s and abolished again in terms of their ex quota status by the Labour Party in 2012. We have ensured that they were brought back and recognised as absolutely necessary in our education system, in particular at secondary level. Our demand under the confidence and supply agreement, on foot of which we have agreed to facilitate the budget and tax changes that were implemented last night, was that 400 guidance counsellors would be restored.

The cost of restoring guidance counsellors is approximately €30 million. I am glad the Minister has said these guidance counsellors will be ex quota. It was a particularly difficult battle to fight as officialdom and the Minister taking its advice did not want to have guidance counsellors ex quota. Where guidance counsellors are not ex quota, they can be used for any job in the school which they are otherwise qualified to do. If a guidance counsellor is also qualified as a history teacher, he or she can be sent to teach history rather than to give our students the guidance that they desperately need. I am glad to see that "ex quota" is mentioned and I look forward to the circular that will issue on foot of the budget announcement. The Education Act 1998 imposes a legal obligation on schools to provide appropriate guidance and it is up to us in the Oireachtas to ensure they have the money to meet it. Fianna Fáil is glad to have played a key role in bringing guidance counselling back as a necessary function of our secondary level schools. The Minister for Education and Skills could clarify this, but I believe that when these posts are made ex quota, it has a marginal effect on the pupil-teacher ratio, resulting in more teachers coming into second level on top of the extra teachers posted in the budget numbers to address demographic need.

I am also glad to see there has been further progress in relation to postgraduate grants, which were the subject of another absolutely bizarre decision by the Labour Party in government during the last Dáil, supported, of course, by Fine Gael. The abolition of grants for postgraduate students denied the poorest and most vulnerable people in society the opportunity to achieve their full potential in the education system. Fianna Fáil has always been about allowing everybody to achieve his or her full educational potential. Everyone who works and studies hard can rise to the top and it is up to the State to provide the education system which facilitates that. As part of the confidence and supply agreement, we insisted on the restoration of postgraduate grants last year for the lowest income deciles, although it is fair to say that Fine Gael resisted us in the negotiations. There is further funding for postgraduate grants in this year's budget which means more people will be able to avail of them from next year. It is a very welcome development. I know for a fact that some masters degree courses, in particular in the science area on which a lot of employers depend for fully-trained employees, were finding it difficult to find students. That was wrong and it did not reflect where we wanted to be as a society or an economy.

I have concerns, which I will address in future education debates, about the cost of postgraduate courses which are very expensive here. Recently, we changed from a one-year higher diploma in education to qualify teachers at secondary level to a two-year postgraduate masters in education. It is a worrying trend. I am not sure that the case has been made that a two-year masters is necessary on top of a primary degree, in particular given the costs associated with studying for a masters for two years. It is something the House should examine. Sometimes, the well-intentioned bodies which are involved in making these decisions - I note that the Department has denied all knowledge, saying it is a matter for the educational bodies - do not take into account the cost for students. If someone sees that after completing a primary degree, he or she has to fund a two-year masters degree, he or she might be turned off going into a career in teaching. Even if a student gets a grant, he or she will still have to find money to fund his or her education. If there is no grant, it will be even harder. That is something we are going to have to look at, which is why Fianna Fáil will be calling for a review of this educational requirement for our young people.

6 o’clock

We also welcome the provision of further funding for third level. Last year, there was a small increase in third level funding after Fianna Fáil very much put it on the agenda. It was important that we put it on the agenda because no other party had done so in respect of education. Third level was the poor relation. It is not like a local primary school. If it is built, that attracts a great deal of enthusiasm and support for politicians whereas third level is out there somewhere and it does not have the same local and parish pump relevance, which has determined a great deal of public policy over the years. It was important to say as a nation, an economy and a society that third level is crucial and it must be ensured the sector has sufficient funding to provide the education our children and other young people need and to which they are entitled. Fianna Fáil put that on the agenda last year and we forced the Government parties finally to admit there was an issue in respect of funding. They put in less money than we thought was necessary but they have gone a little further for next year. The National Training Fund levy will be increased next year and the subsequent two years by 0.1% per annum. We were the first party to support this. That was a recommendation in the Cassells report. The report is often debated in the context of student loans but it made many other recommendations, one of which is more State funding of third level, regardless of whether a loan scheme is in place. Another recommendation related to this training fund levy. I am glad that it is being put in place. I would like more of the money to be directed specifically at third level but substantially more will go in next year than this year and at least the Government recognises the need for third level funding. We should all agree with that as a society and as a nation. This is a public good which can produce good for our students, society and the economy.

I have concerns about other education issues which will be raised over the next year. One relates to the capitation grant and the cost of running schools. No move whatsoever was made in respect of the money granted to schools by the Government to run their own affairs. I was contacted by one principal in my constituency earlier who said that he intends to introduce the so-called voluntary contribution for the first time ever in his school. He will ask his board of management to do that because he simply cannot run the school on the budget he has been given. The Government must give more of a signal about this issue. A majority of the people who get up early in the morning are parents. They bring their kids to school before rushing off in rush hour traffic to work and now they are expected to fund their schools because the Government will not fund them. We have concerns about this and progress will have to be made.

We welcome the provision of 1,091 new special needs assistants, SNAs, but no one knows whether the number that will be provided will be sufficient or too much or what the exact requirement will be. No forecasting model has been published in this regard. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has been asked to do this but it has not done so yet. We, therefore, do not know whether this figure is just off the top of the Minister's head based on what happened previously. We do not know whether it is too much or too little. I warn the Government about what happened last summer in respect of the allocation of SNAs. The increased provision announced in last year's budget was only allocated to individual schools and children during the summer while the schools were closed. That will not be acceptable next year and that has to change. This was completely wrong because it put stress on families and children. The NCSE and Department were still tying up loose ends regarding the allocations to children at the end of the summer and at the start of the school year, and that caused enormous stress for SNAs who did not know whether they would be in a job or what the position would be.

Fianna Fáil tabled a motion regarding the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, during the year. Ten new psychologists will be recruited under the budget provision. I did not read the Action Plan on Education today but my recollection is that number is significantly below the target the Government set in the plan. More action is needed in this regard. NEPS undertakes psychological assessments of students who need help and the organisation needs more focus and attention. If children can be assessed and diagnosed early, their lives will be much easier and better and there can be more focus on them rather than having them wait for assessments or paying for a private assessment.

The Government parties will provide €5.5 million for "a range of new policy measures, including the forthcoming languages strategy". If the publication by Fianna Fáil of its own strategy has pushed the Government to provide this little drop in the ocean, I am glad. This was not part of the confidence and supply talks but Fianna Fáil sent a signal that the press release issued by the Government during the teachers' conferences about the modern languages strategy was not enough. We wanted a strategy but none was forthcoming from the Government and, therefore, we published our own. The budget announcement is at least a signal that the Government will start to take this issue seriously because we are falling behind in respect of modern languages.

The Government is focusing on well-being saying it is a key priority but the well-being curriculum is a little up in the air. The guidance counsellor is very much part of student well-being and student advice and we have concerns about the well-being programme because it is pushing out academic subjects in some schools. We are not sure the focus is where it should be. Well-being can be a mix of things. It is not necessarily always about the individual child and its well-being. Other subjects can be shoved into the well-being curriculum and the Government parties can say, "We are doing all this for well-being. Are we not great?" I have serious concerns about and we will examine this further as we hold the Government to account.

Significant money is being allocated to junior cycle reform. Many teachers and staff are being paid to advise people on the new reforms and it is costly. A sum of €13 million in new and reallocated funding will be provided next year to continue the implementation of junior cycle reform. I wonder whether anybody has conducted a cost benefit analysis. That is a significant amount in the context of the education budget and we might need to examine this. If there is a constant reform agenda and people are constantly saying we must change, there will be attendant costs related to training and they must be examined in the context of value for money.

The capital programme has been extremely slow. A list of schools building projects was announced prior to the last general election which were to be included in the six-year capital plan. It was an election stunt as the vast majority of them have not been built or even gone to tender. In my constituency, schools in Whitecross, Julianstown, Dunboyne and Lismulllen are seeking accommodation and they have been put on a long list, despite inclusion in the capital plan. We will have to examine critically why this announcement was made two years ago by the then Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and the progress the Department has made. How is it getting to grips with land costs, which through not fault of its own, are eating significantly into its budget?

The contribution of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government was okay but it was relatively brief given it is the most important subject. He was in and out of the Chamber in seven or eight minutes. That is unfortunate as housing should be at the centre of everybody's agenda. I talk about education because I am an education spokesperson but housing is at the centre of my agenda, as it is for every other Member. While many will criticise the Government parties for not making new announcements yesterday, Fianna Fáil would be satisfied if they implemented what they announced previously. We have been vocal in saying we do not want more announcements, press conferences and new initiatives and in asking the Government to build houses. Everybody would be happy if houses were built and we did not have more announcements, reviews etc. Let us build these houses and make sure they are made available. One significant omission in the housing element of the Budget Statement related to affordability. A young couple looking to buy a house may be earning too much to rent a local authority house but not enough to secure a mortgage and, increasingly, not enough to pay a normal market rent. There was nothing in the budget for them. As part of the capital programme review that will be announced shortly, Fianna Fáil will demand that the Government does something about affordable housing and affordability. We put forward a suggestion regarding VAT.

That is not to give anybody any support but to bring the price of houses down under a certain threshold. We were roundly condemned by all sides of the House.

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