Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Ó Laoghaire as an rún seo a chur os ár gcomhair anocht. Aontaím leis an rún seo go huile agus go hiomlán agus beidh mé ag tacú leis. Tá na fadhbanna leagtha amach ann ach tá na fuascailtí ar na fadhbanna sin ann chomh maith agus is maith liom é sin.

The Young Irelander and patriot Thomas Davis once said, "Educate that you may be free". Those words still ring true today, but they ring true in the sense of liberation from a cycle of disadvantage and poverty that too many of our children find themselves trapped in in Irish society.

The motion deals comprehensively with an issue that is perhaps the single greatest source of concern to hundreds of thousands of parents and families at the this time. The motion addresses what impedes and impacts negatively on children who are already disadvantaged. A disadvantaged child or a child with special educational needs in a super-sized class of 30 will not be able to make the same progress as a child who is disadvantaged or has special needs and is in a class of 20 or 22. That is a fact.

I taught before I went into politics. We were trained in college to differentiate content to suit children's needs, strengths and interests. Teachers cannot do that in classes of 30 or more. Children are not getting the enriched and personalised curriculum they should be. They are not getting the opportunities we should be giving them, which would allow them to flourish and reach their potential. I had an issue with that during my 12 years in the education system.

The motion calls for the Government to begin immediately the process of drastically reducing class sizes, with the objective of achieving a pupil-teacher ratio in line with the EU average of 20:1. I completely support that. It is something that needs to be done. Thanks to this crisis, we can no longer avoid this plain fact. Our schoolgoing children have been on the receiving end of systematic and structurally embedded inequalities for decades.

I also wonder why it is the case that we can marshal the political will to bring on board an extra 1,000 substitute teachers because of a crisis. It should not have taken a crisis for that to happen. Prior to this, Governments seemed to be prepared to leave schools scrambling desperately to hold on to vitally needed and valuable teachers each and every September. It is something I fight for every year. It is guaranteed that I will be submitting appeals for schools which are desperately trying to hold on to valued staff members.

This is an opportunity to be radical and truly republican in the best meaning of the term. We have an opportunity to cherish all of the children of the nation equally, as outlined in the vision of the 1916 Proclamation. We should use this opportunity to bring about permanent change for the educational good of all of our children. If we do that, we will have done the State some service.

See this speech in context