Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The decisions made yesterday and today do not reflect where we want to be as a Government or as a country and certainly not where I want to be as Minister for Education and Skills. It reflects this time of uncertainty, which we do not like, but as I am an eternal optimist I hope we will not be going for a no-deal Brexit. The budget, however, is preparing for that. Most people realise that we could not do what we wanted to do and that what we chose to do was done in the interests of this country and State.

Capitation will be raised by 2.5% on top of a 5% increase last year which raises it 7.5% in total. I appreciate the pressure on, and difficulties facing, boards of management around this country. The boards of management, whether in primary or secondary schools, are the largest voluntary organisation in the country, even ahead of the GAA because there are between two and five primary schools in some GAA club areas. I am committed to working towards helping them when we have more opportunity to do that. There was an 11% cut in 2009 and we have to get back to giving them the proper assistance.

I wanted to improve the pupil-teacher ratio, PTR, in primary schools but I was not in a position to do it but we have reduced the PTR for retention and recruitment in one to four teacher schools. That is a one point reduction. I also introduced one-day administrative leave for teaching principals. They have enormous responsibility not just to teach but also to manage, co-ordinate, supervise, delegate, deal with human resources and become quantity surveyors for school or classroom extensions. It is a very difficult position.

My ultimate objective in this budget was to protect frontline services. Next year 1,300 new places will come on stream for special classes. For every one of those six classroom special units to be developed next year there will be a special education teacher but we will also need special needs assistants, SNAs. That is why we have come up with 1,064 extra SNAs for a total of 17,000 in the country, a 61% increase on 2011. It is a phenomenal increase but we are by no means finished yet. Deputy Michael Collins is right to point out there are difficult and hard cases where parents are trying to find places for their sons and daughters. That is why I wanted to protect frontline services and will continue to do that.

Chomh maith leis sin, chuir mé tús leis an deontas Gaeltachta arís. Tá an deontas Gaeltachta thar a bheith tábhachtach fá choinne na mic léinn atá ag déanamh staidéir sa tríú leibhéal. Beidh an deontas sin ag dul ar ais. Beimid in áit difriúil an bliain seo chugainn agus beidh sé ag dul ar ais sa bhliain 2020 fá choinne an deontas Gaeltachta.

I acknowledge my colleagues the Ministers of State, Deputies Halligan and Mitchell O'Connor, for their co-operation during this budgetary process. They will speak on their segments, within their budgets. I particularly thank Deputy Halligan for his efforts on school transport. We have changed the policy for post-primary schools, if there is a traditional route to the second closest school. We have also introduced another €26 million into a budget which is coming under pressure from the point of view of special needs. Deputy Halligan will be able to explain that over half of that budget is going to special needs provision not just for private taxis but also the assistants on the buses.

Education is what is left when everything else is forgotten. It is fundamental to the future of this country whether for the creativity of the young people or the capacity-building of the teachers, continuing training, continued personal development. We have to harness the creativity in the classrooms. This does not reflect where I want to be but hard decisions had to be made. I have indicated where I want to go.

See this speech in context