Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is quite extraordinary the degree to which the Taoiseach lectures everyone else on raising issues of expenditure when only this morning another €200 million was announced by two Ministers. The Taoiseach should therefore stop the smart-aleckry about people making promises. It is absolutely our entitlement to raise this issue, as we raised the pupil-teacher ratio last year. The Taoiseach resisted that. We forced the pace on reducing the pupil-teacher ratio through confidence and supply last year. We are saying very clearly that schools, DEIS schools in particular, are in dire need because for three years the Government has not prioritised a commitment it made to raise capitation grants for pupils in primary schools and then, ultimately, it rests on parents-----

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