Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Deputies Grealish, O'Connor, Keaveney and Carey.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Labour Party motion moved by Deputy O'Sullivan as it gives us an opportunity to again focus on the changing priorities of education in 2006. It also gives us a chance to focus once again on the fact that we are in the middle of the largest ever Government expenditure on education since the foundation of the State. It gives us a chance to examine the policies, proposals and any alternatives put forward by the Opposition and to hold a contest of ideas.

Unfortunately, the motion is too narrowly framed because it only focuses on class sizes and does not give us a chance to have a holistic debate on the subject. I commend the Minister for Education and Science on her stewardship since her appointment. It is widely recognised that she is one of the most outstanding Ministers for Education in the history of the State. She brings her personal experience, expertise and political ability with her and is keenly aware of modern priorities in education.

This debate should address priorities because we are in the middle of a considerable programme of Government expenditure on education. Regardless of how one looks at it, it is highly unlikely that any alternative Government would be in a position to spend far more money on education. We should, therefore, work within current parameters.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy O'Sullivan should look at the facts. Expenditure on education is running at double the rate of most other Departments, with the exception of the Department of Health and Children. This is a considerable amount of money. Compared to the capital programme of the last Government, this Government's expenditure has been five times greater in terms of capital expenditure.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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We spent more of our national wealth when we were in power.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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We should examine what the Government is doing and what the Opposition would do with the same resources because this debate concerns the prioritisation of the considerable resources currently available. We should not conclude this debate unless the Opposition clearly states what it would do within the context of the available resources. Where would the Opposition shift its priorities and from which areas would it take money? It behoves anyone putting forward a motion such as this to set out clearly where the shifting of priorities would take place. We should be very direct about this because the motion clearly calls for certain pupil-teacher ratios and class sizes to be brought into play. If the Opposition was to carry out the objectives set out in the motion tomorrow morning, from where would it draw the resources? Would it draw them from special needs education, education for disadvantaged children, training or pay?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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No.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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Should I tell the parents of a student in Limerick, a town with which Deputy O'Sullivan is familiar, who are seeking additional resources for special needs that their child is not entitled to additional time, resources and resource hours because the money is being diverted into another area? Am I to tell a school in my constituency, such as Gaelscoil Sairseal, which the Minister visited and gave commitments to regarding funding, that it will not receive a new school building because we are going to reduce class sizes, which have already been reduced significantly in the past few years, from 23 to 20?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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This school has been waiting for 16 years for a proper building. The Government has yet to provide this school with a school building.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The problems facing schools such as Gaelscoil Sairseal result from the size of classrooms, rather than class size. Such schools must accommodate 35 people in grossly overcrowded classrooms. They are not interested in the minute difference between pupil-teacher ratios of 22:1 and 20:1. They simply want new schools and new classrooms. This is why we have diverted the resources in this fashion and why the Government has set out its stall as to where it will prioritise resources on the capital side, in terms of special needs education and in terms of education for disadvantaged children. We have set out our stall and where our priorities lie and to date I have not heard the Opposition state where its priorities lie.

Schools in my constituency like Gaelscoil Chalagh an Treoigh and Gaelscoil Seoirse Clancy want new facilities and new classrooms. They do not necessarily want radical reductions in class sizes, given the reductions that have already taken place. It would be wholly inadequate to tell overcrowded schools, such as Gaelscoil Sairseal in Limerick, that they will not receive new classrooms but will receive new teachers who must teach in classrooms which are completely inadequate.

Concentrating on infrastructure is far preferable to immediately moving to a pupil-teacher ratio of 20:1. The latter move is not practical because schools need more classrooms to immediately introduce such a pupil-teacher ratio. This is why the Government has focused on the largest ever capital funding of education. Let us compare the current level funding with previous levels. When the rainbow Government was in power, it reduced funding on the capital programme. Our funding is five times the figure spent by the rainbow Government. In the three years of the rainbow Government's tenure of office, 40% of all classes in Limerick contained more than 30 pupils. This figure is now 21%, representing considerable and continuous progress in this area.

Are we now to suggest diverting all our resources and priorities into this one area to the neglect of special needs education and education for disadvantaged children? I think not. The record speaks for itself. A total of €3.9 billion has been spent in capital funding over five years, while €2.5 billion was spent between 2000 and 2006. In real terms, approximately €10 billion would be spent on capital expenditure in education over a ten-year period. This is approximately €1 billion per year in real terms. We can contrast this with a complete levelling off and no increases in funding between 1994 and 1997. More than 5,000 teachers are now working directly with primary school children with special needs, compared with 1,500 in 1998. Will anyone suggest in any motion before this House that this does not represent progress? This represents considerable progress. A total of 7,100 whole-time equivalent special needs assistants are now working in schools, compared with approximately 1,500 in 1998, which, again, represents considerable progress.

I would prefer to say to parents of children in these difficult circumstances that we recognise and are pumping resources into these marginalised and difficult areas. The Opposition has not stated that it would immediately lower the pupil-teacher ratio to 20:1 without taking funding from any other area.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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It is in the programme for Government.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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To do so would be the political equivalent of the three-card trick. It is not possible for the Opposition to say one week that it wants to solve problems in the disability sector or education for children with special needs and say the next week that it wishes to put all its money into reducing class sizes.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The Government can publish something in the programme for Government and then ignore it. The Government wants it every which way.

Peter Power (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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It is a chicken and egg situation. It behoves the Opposition in the limited time left in this debate to set out exactly the areas in which it would cut funding. Both Deputy O'Sullivan and the Minister have been actively engaged in dealing with the issue of school places in Limerick. No Deputy could condone schools cherry-picking students over and above other schools, which has resulted in some students in Limerick not being offered secondary school places in recent years. I welcome the initiative taken by the Minister to introduce an area development plan to examine the demographics and capacity figures for the next five to ten years to put in place the infrastructure that will prevent the situation in Limerick developing again. I commend the amendment to the House.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Hear, hear.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Progressive Democrats)
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I thank Deputy Peter Power for sharing his time with me and I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion. I favour the Government's amendment for two reasons. First is the issue of targets. The Opposition's motion makes much of the Government's commitment to reduce class sizes to international best practice guidelines. In the view of Opposition Members, this is in the context of the Government's failure in respect of the pupil-teacher ratio. To accept such a view would be a mistake and would send the wrong signal to the citizens of this country.

The Progressive Democrats believe that when the programme for Government and policy targets are being set for a period of five years, it is important to aim for international best standards, which is no less than the people deserve. Due to our prudent and experienced management of the economy, we have the resources to invest in health, education, transport and policing. As the Minister pointed out, the Government is investing considerable sums of money in school building and modernisation projects. In the past six years, €2.5 billion has been allocated to thousands of projects, which will make a significant difference to individual school communities around Ireland.

It would have been easier not to pursue international best standards in class sizes. When the Government took office, we needed to reverse decades of underinvestment and respond to rapidly emerging needs and new demands. Not pursuing those standards would have been a softer option. Instead, we knew the resources, skills and talents of teachers and public servants justified aiming for the highest standards. It is regrettable to send a message to the electorate that if the Opposition framed a programme for Government, something less than the best would be pursued. This is not the policy of the Progressive Democrats.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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The Government will not implement its programme.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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That would be dishonest.

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Opposition motion in no way acknowledges the work done or progress made to date. Every Deputy is aware of the problems in terms of school facilities. We are playing catch-up and starting from a low base. Every Deputy, including the Fine Gael and Labour Deputies who put their names to the motion — that is a shame — is aware of significant improvements in school facilities in their constituencies.

I compliment the Minister, who is working hard to make real improvements. Recently, she met a delegation seeking a new Gaelscoil in Oranmore in my constituency of Galway West. She also met Oireachtas Members from County Galway. The case of overcrowding and chronic conditions they put to the Minister was solid. She was excellent in the meeting and gave a commitment that she would move the project forward. I welcome the fact that she gave permission to the OPW to advertise for a site, for which ten expressions of interest have been received. I publicly thank the Minister for her work.

In business, the setting out of so-called stretch goals is now standard practice. It enables one to find out what a system is capable of producing and helps move it towards its best possible performance. In pursuing best international standards, the Progressive Democrats and their colleagues in government have done this in respect of the education system. It has delivered much. At primary level, the figures are 63 new schools, 246 large-scale refurbishments and extensions, 63 modernised schools, 55 school extensions and more than 4,300 refurbishment projects. At post-primary level, the figures are 19 new schools, 129 large-scale refurbishments and extensions and more than 1,300 refurbishment projects.

When children start in their new classes next September, there will be 4,000 more primary teachers than in 2002, that is, one teacher for every 17 pupils at primary level. The average class size has been reduced to 24 pupils. The Government has made the right choices rather than the easy ones and targeted extra teachers at those who need them most, that is, children with special educational needs, those from disadvantaged areas and those with English language needs. The Opposition's motion would lead one to believe it would have made different decisions, but they would have been the wrong ones. This gives the electorate an interesting indication of the choice it faces in the next election.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate this opportunity to support the Government's amendment to the motion. It is in keeping with tradition to compliment Deputy O'Sullivan on tabling the motion.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Are there divisions between the Progressive Democrats and Fianna Fáil?

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is fair that we have different views. I was about to spend time speaking about education in County Limerick but Deputy Peter Power has done so effectively and, instead, I will talk about Tallaght and Dublin South-West.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Surprise, surprise.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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During my address on the Institutes of Technology Bill, I paid tribute to the Minister's work. At the institute in Tallaght, which I regularly visit, I know the Minister's work is appreciated and the Bill is warmly welcomed.

Some of my colleagues spoke emotionally about education and it is important that we all support what the Minister is doing. I am no expert but I remember my school days, which were a while ago, with a great deal of affection. I regularly bring visitors from schools in my constituency to the Oireachtas and make the point that we only discover how much we love school when we leave it. I am from a generation in which children were treated differently. I went to school at Clarendon Street in this parish, then Synge Street and, for secondary school, Drimnagh Castle. I am from a Dublin of a different era but it is important that we understand the need for proper investment in education and do what we can to educate the children of our communities.

The Minister knows that I strongly support her actions in respect of schools in what we often describe as disadvantaged areas. My constituency is no different and I welcome the fact that she has visited schools there. Recently, she went to the Sacred Heart school in Killinarden, a parish of 1,500 houses that is making good progress, including success in the Early Start programme and so on. The Minister must continue to pool her resources in respect of those services as they will be supported.

My colleagues have spoken about the international community, to which the INTO and others refer as newcomers. Perhaps that is all right but the Department must examine the particular challenges faced by some schools in this regard. I have brought to the Minister's attention on a number of occasions St. Mark's junior-national school in Springfield, Tallaght, which was established 30 years ago or so. It has been a tremendous facility for the local community. It is coping well with the influx of international children but it faces particular challenges. I welcome the fact that the Minister recently arranged for senior departmental officials to examine the position in the school. Arising from this, I hope special incentives will be provided. Deputy Crowe and I have raised this matter a number of times, including in Adjournment debates. There is a strong case to be made for St. Mark's school.

In my constituency there are a number of new communities, particularly in west Tallaght in areas like Carrickmore, Belfry, Westbrook, Firhouse and the general Ballycullen area. There are particular challenges for parents in those areas who need to access school places. There will always be a need for the planners in the Department of Education and Science to liaise closely with local authorities — in our case, with South Dublin County Council — to ensure that enough forward planning is taking place. Where new communities are developing and children are seeking school places, the Department should look ahead and provide those places. It will always be the case that parents will want to bring their children back to where they were educated, and Tallaght is no different in this regard. I wish the Minister well and assure her of my support.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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Tá mé buíoch seans a bheith agam labhairt ar an bpointe tábhachtach seo. I am grateful for the time, however short, to address this issue. I am well qualified to do so, having been a teacher myself. I am fully aware that the presence of pupils in a classroom to the point of overcrowding can have a negative impact. Thankfully we have a Minister who is absolutely committed to her job and I take this opportunity to commend her. Her absolute commitment is astounding and is evident in the way that funding has been spent in recent times, across the spectrum of education, from buildings, special needs assistants and special resource teachers in schools at all levels.

I am puzzled, to say the least, by the section of the motion tabled by the Opposition parties which refers to the failure to adequately plan for population growth in certain parts of the country. Perhaps this Private Members' motion should have been directed to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, who could, within the planning spectrum, address families. He could ask them, when choosing their house and where to live, how many children they intend to have and in what month of the year they intend to have them. Then a report could be issued to the Departments of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Education and Science so that the kind of forward planning demanded could be done ahead of time. I really do not know what the Opposition was at.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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We really do not know what Deputy Hoctor is talking about.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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Reference was made to thousands of children in prefabricated buildings. What is wrong with prefabricated buildings? There is a well-known multinational company in County Kildare whose entire complex is a state-of-the-art prefabricated building. There are now very few prefabricated school buildings, thanks to this Minister. There are alternatives available and schools have the option to put bricks and mortar in place rather than prefabricated buildings.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I do not know what is going on in Tipperary.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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There are plenty of prefabs there.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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The 400 to 500 teachers who are now teaching non-Irish children were never included in our programme for Government. However, we recognised that acute need and those teachers are successfully providing English classes to pupils. There is a target to be reached in this area and it is doubtful that it can be done by 2007, but we have addressed the most acute needs first in those areas where postponement was not an option. I heard of one school recently with pupils representing over 100 different nationalities.

The tackling of disadvantage has had a great impact in the schools in our larger cities, urban centres and more unsuspected places where disadvantage clearly exists. Thankfully, the recent group commissioned by the Minister recognised this fact, for which we are very grateful.

The ongoing spending in education is not always visible. It is often manifested in subtle ways when, for example, transport is not a difficulty for people with special needs. Where funding is needed, even if it is for only one pupil to attend a particular school, it is provided, often at enormous cost. Needs are addressed and met.

I commend the Minister on her work with her Department and the level of co-operation we experience when we make representations to her. I am surprised that the Opposition did not put more creativity into its motion because this is an important issue and one which the Minister will continue to address.

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this issue. Every Government has priorities, as does every party. Fianna Fáil, since its foundation, has made education one of its key priorities and that is record which nobody can challenge. One only has to look at Mr. Donogh O'Malley and the introduction of free second level education. Equally, the initiatives brought forward by the current Minister, Deputy Hanafin, prove that the Government has given education priority. It has given primary education specific priority and, within that, priority was given to the areas of disadvantage and special needs.

That is why there has been unprecedented expenditure on education. That is why, over the coming weeks, as has been outlined ad nauseam in this House, over 800 schools will be totally transformed under the summer works scheme. That is a scheme which was in its infancy only two or three years ago. I spent 30 years teaching in schools, some of which were not exactly state of the art. The provision of new windows, new heating systems or rewiring is transforming school buildings, which is as it should be. It is only in a quality physical environment that quality education can be delivered.

The issue of prefabricated buildings has been mentioned. Nobody likes teaching long term in prefabricated buildings, although the modern versions are better than the earlier models. My first teaching job was in a prefab and I was freezing in the middle of winter and sweltering in the summer. The Government is addressing that issue and the need for the provision of prefabricated buildings is being reduced.

With the greatest respect to people on all sides of this House who have been members of local authorities, it is long past time when there was real engagement between local authorities and the Department of Education and Science in progressing the planning of education provision. I welcome the fact that we have in the Dublin area, which is the most rapidly expanding area of the country, a mechanism which allows for planning for the future needs of the city and surrounding areas.

I make absolutely no apology for what has been done for those who are disadvantaged by the Minister since she came into office, and by the Government over the past few years. She has increased the number of special needs and classroom assistants, as well as the overall number of teachers. As has been said repeatedly, if all the 4,000 additional teachers employed were deployed in standard classrooms, the pupil-teacher ratio would be reduced to an unprecedented level. However, school management boards and principals, in their wisdom, have taken decisions to deploy their staff in ways they feel best meet their needs. The INTO, of which I am a member, acknowledges that the Government has put unprecedented levels of investment into education.

The Minister's DEIS initiative is one of the most radical and innovative programmes in the area of provision for disadvantaged areas. Up to now, a scattergun approach was taken to providing for disadvantaged areas. Everybody wanted a little bit of the action. I welcome the fact that at primary level, 320 urban and 320 rural schools will benefit from a range of services which will enhance the quality of education and improve the efficiency of educational delivery.

Initiatives such as the school completion programme have proven extraordinarily beneficial and the level of school retention has increased. I recently received a reply from the Minister's office on absenteeism from schools in my area. Already, due to the investment and the commitment of the teachers, strong evidence suggests that the level of absenteeism is being reduced and the levels of transfer from primary to post-primary and retention throughout the system are improving. That shows in the level of participation in further and third level education. I strongly commend the Minister's amendment to the House. Those on the other side of the House would be wise to support the Government amendment.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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I will be brief. The Government promised in its programme for Government to reduce class sizes, but it has failed in that promise. Notwithstanding the increased investment in special needs which the Minister trumpeted, we remain below the European Union average in terms of education spending and near the bottom in terms of pupil-teacher ratio.

I and others have highlighted this for a considerable period. A quick check of Dáil and other records show that most recently I raised this matter on 3 March 2005, 9 March 2005 and 5 April 2006. I also raised it by means of a statement on 30 August 2005. Others also raised it, yet the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, pat themselves on the back and state it is a case of "either-or". Education is too important to be an "either-or" issue. Education matters, and funding a reduction in class sizes would benefit pupils, their communities, taxpayers and society at large.

People are aware of my position on funding and know that the Green Party is committed to providing an additional ring-fenced targeted €1 billion investment above 2006 levels. What are Fine Gael and Labour committed to providing? We need to see the costings, otherwise we get nothing more than platitudes. What new excuse will the Government come up with after we have seen their amendment tonight? It is failing our children, parents and teachers by not providing the necessary investments and reducing class sizes while revenues are available and our economy is performing strongly.

I wish to share time with Deputies Crowe, Gregory, Murphy, Connolly and Breen. I could continue for the full allocated time but it would be like talking to a brick wall. Shame on the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, and the Government.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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More than a quarter of primary school pupils are taught in classes of more than 30 pupils. This is unacceptable in one of the richest countries per capita in the world. Deputy O'Connor mentioned St. Mark's senior school in my constituency, which caters for children from 47 different countries with varying levels of English. The average class size is 30 pupils. These class sizes are unfair on all those concerned. The only additional staff that school gets are two language teachers on a two-year contract.

For teachers who already have a stressful enough job, attempting to teach such large classes inevitably proves difficult. Pupils lose out as less time is spent on one-to-one teaching. School discipline may also suffers as it is more time consuming for a teacher to control larger classes. Pupils do not get the same attention in larger classes and it is clear that they suffer.

In their programme for Government, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats committed themselves to reducing class sizes for children under nine years of age to below the best international practice of a ratio of 20:1 by 2007. They will fail and they do not accept, as other speakers stated, the priorities may have shifted. It is seen by many as another promise broken.

As other speakers stated, the Government has failed to plan for the explosion in the population. In the Dublin 15 area, this increase in population has brought a marked increase in the demand for primary school places. It is unacceptable that we witness an unprecedented increase in the amount of property development and construction of office blocks and private apartments throughout the city while some areas do not have sufficient schools or adequate buildings.

This year in Littlespace, three primary schools used the same site for the first school term, Ongar Educate Together, Tyrrellstown Educate Together and the Mary Mother of Hope school. More than half the pupils in nine west Dublin schools are in classes of more than 30 children, representing some of the largest classes in the country. One school in Hartstown has 19 classes with more than 30 pupils and recently it received more than 20 children who applied for places in September.

It is a depressing day for Irish education when parents must camp out for days to ensure their children's enrolment in their chosen school or when children are refused entry to schools. This is a country of waiting lists. An area in Kilinarden parish in my constituency has an action plan for a further 2,500 houses to be constructed. However, the local authority refuses to see the need for increased school places, supposedly on the basis of a drop in rolls. However, any principal will state there is no drop in rolls.

Regarding one school, Scoil Chaitlín Maude, a number of people have taken the decision to educate their children through Irish but there is no room in the school. It was told last year that it would not get another prefab. I am told Scoil Santain is also full. We state that children should be allowed have that option but the reality is that seats in those classes are not available.

I call on the Department of Education and Science to engage with the relevant Departments and agencies to produce assessments to ensure population and housing trends are closely monitored so that all school children have access to their local schools. As part of the plan for Adamstown, in South Dublin County Council's area, schools were developed and paid for by the developer. Perhaps that is how the Minister should consider progressing, given that adequate funding does not come from the Department. Developers make enough money throughout the country to provide funding. Perhaps the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will examine that and introduce legislation to provide for it.

Budget 2006 saw the announcement of the provision of an additional 500 teachers over the next two years to assist in the reduction of class sizes. A total of 250 extra teachers for this year in a system of 3,150 schools is a small step. The average class size in both Lithuania and Luxemburg is 15 and that to what we should aspire. We should seek to reduce class sizes as much as possible. The Government's lack of political will means that in the coming years the crisis in primary school places will be replicated due to the failure to provide sufficient secondary school places.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I fully support this motion calling for a place for all children in primary education and to reduce class size to international best practice. Last night, the Minister tried to bamboozle us with a range of statistics. However, she cannot get away from the simple and central fact that this country, with its super successful economy and the boast that it is one of the most affluent in the developed world still has a deplorable record on class size, way behind most of our European partners. The Minister boasts of the recent improvements. However, these are the least one could expect at a time of unprecedented wealth and resources. Far more could and should have been done long before now.

In my constituency, which I share with the Taoiseach, there are still disgraceful inequities with regard to educational opportunity. In the Dublin 1 area, the reality of disadvantaged education, which the Minister is claiming to be doing so much about, is that a majority of children from the primary schools in Dublin 1 and parts of Dublin 7 still do not go on to third level education. Many drop out before they complete second level.

The Minister's policy on special needs and resource teachers discriminates against the smaller, inner city acutely disadvantaged schools, the schools most in need of positive discrimination for resources and teachers. This would give children half a chance of getting on in life. This discrimination is the reason we have, in those same areas, an ongoing and worsening drugs crisis. So much could be done for these children through education, but the State continues to fail to provide adequately for them.

In the Cabra area of my constituency, parents have made huge efforts to build up a Gaelscoil, with the sole aid of the local St. Fionbarra GAA club. They have had marvellous success, yet the Government is leaving them to soldier on in dilapidated prefabs and a discarded builder's hut. The Dublin 7 Educate Together school was recently forced to call an emergency public meeting of parents before it could establish whether it would have any premises in the coming school year.

I will conclude by paying tribute to a person who throughout her teaching life did much for the most disadvantaged children in the areas served by Rutland Street national school. I refer to the late Máire Buckley, the teacher who had only just retired before being tragically killed in the mayhem a week ago on the Naas Road. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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It comes as a bolt from the blue for parents when they discover their child is not automatically entitled to a place in a local school. We have an annual season in Kildare called find a school place. It starts around March, and there is a frenzy for months afterwards. This happens every year, and as we do not have a State-run school system, the boards of management become a buffer for the Department of Education and Science. The Department indicates, when asked about a specific four year old or five year old, that the child is not legally required to attend school until the age of six. One should try saying this to the parent who has a child in a playschool for a couple of years, with the child totally bored.

With one school in Kildare, the Office of Public Works has taken seven years to find a site. The national school in Kill has a big billboard on the side of the school, or rather the collection of prefabs, stating that the school is full. A full class of children have not gained admission to that school. Every year we see a rush of planning permissions for prefabs and the Department often sanctions these at the 11th hour. For example, one is needed for Straffan in September and until last Friday there has been no word on this.

A new school in Naas was constructed to take 16 classes. Many of the classrooms will remain vacant for up to seven years because the other schools in the area cannot agree a joint enrolment policy. This is occurring in a town where children are in prefabs, gym halls, classes of more than 35 and where children are being refused places. Parents are driving their children to three or more schools every day, adding to traffic jams and stress levels, and often ensuring that a parent cannot return to the workforce. They were angry about this last year during the by-election campaign, and they will be twice as angry when the general election comes around next year.

Recently we were told that we had to fill in a census form so that services could be planned. Where is the evidence that census figures were used in the past? With the rate of growth that is occurring in Celbridge, for example, it is entirely possible to predict the need for a new primary school. This will not materialise as a result of people filling out a census form. It will come about after enough parents get angry enough and after enough children have been refused school places. At that stage we will get a prefab in a field.

I represent a constituency which has been developing since the 1970s. We could run courses in crisis management because that is what we are experiencing with the issue of education provision. It is time we had real integrated planning and delivery in a timely way of critical facilities such as schools.

Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Far too many children spend too much of their time in portakabins or other temporary buildings attached to the side of national schools. Some children spend all their school lives in portakabins. It has been mentioned that it is not nice to teach in a portakabin, but one also has to think of the people being taught in these portakabins and what it is like for them.

The manner in which these children get to school and the near miss that occurred during the week in County Meath should be noted. I would associate a prefab building with being a fire trap, but not a bus. We must look at our ageing bus system, and we cannot let this debate go without making some form of reference to the matter. It is a major issue. We are seen to be one of the world forces in terms of our economy, yet we are not getting the basic matter of children at a national school, or the methods of transporting them there, right. It is becoming exceptionally dangerous as there have been three major incidents in the past 12 months, with two of them occurring in the same county. We should consider the issue.

Our planning has been poor, and this probably goes back a number of years. Nobody would have expected us to get to the pitch we now find ourselves at, but there is a significant onus on county councils, as they are allowing major housing developments without associated services and infrastructure. This infrastructure could be a shop, a place of worship or, in this case, a school. Where there are new housing developments and young couples, it follows naturally that there will be children of school age in a short few years afterwards.

County councils must get their act together in that respect. Health services should also play their part, using the births register. There should be co-operation in these matters and matters of future planning. This could be passed on to relevant Departments so that proper plans can be made, and developers would be obliged to make provision for these types of facilities on sites.

Another issue I wish to refer to is the difficulty in staffing. Staff numbers must be submitted to the Department by the previous 30 September, but this often affects a school in that it may lose a teacher for a critical year within that period. I will leave the issue at that.

I speak to many principal teachers and they tell me that they regret having applied for a principalship and having become a principal. This is tragic and a sad reflection on how the teaching profession is progressing. It reflects the frustrations felt on behalf of staff.

Jim Glennon (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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There are two minutes remaining in this slot.

James Breen (Clare, Independent)
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Everybody accepts a right to education. Today's debate on the institutes of technology dealt with the latter end of this scale. This motion, which I fully endorse, deals with the even more important primary education. Throughout the country we have seen massive urban construction development, particularly in the past 20 years. This brings with it a duty to put proper infrastructure and community supports in place. However, school expansion and construction is one of many areas where the Government has failed.

In the past year I wrote to the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, on behalf of primary schools seeking various amounts of funding for expansion in Sixmilebridge, Ballyea, Querrin, Tuamgraney and Moveen. The reality is that due to a lack of long-term planning, these and other schools have student enrolment demands far in excess of departmental guidelines. Many have prefabricated buildings which are now totally unsuitable for teaching requirements and I am sure that if health and safety inspections were carried out, many such prefabricated classrooms would be closed.

St. Finnachta's national school in Sixmilebridge, County Clare, applied for funding to enable necessary development in December 2005, but to date it has not even received an acknowledgement of this application. Part of its proposed development is to replace two prefabs which have been in classroom use since 1976. Classrooms in the old part of that school are approximately half the size recommended by the school planning section of the Department of Education and Science. Yet this application did not even merit a written response to the school. Next September, this school expects to have an enrolment of 310 pupils, but it only has ten teachers and a principal. These deficiencies far outstrip the commitments given under An Agreed Programme for Government.

Ennis national school has fought for many years to acquire a suitable site so that a new larger school, capable of meeting the demands required of it, can be built. Eventually a site was secured and it was hoped that the development would go ahead in an area close to St. Flannan's College, in the heart of a residential part of Ennis. The ESB then sought permission to build a telecommunications mast close by but planning permission was refused and the appeals inspector from An Bord Pleanála also recommended that permission be refused. However, An Bord Pleanála granted permission, citing that to refuse would be in contravention of national school strategy on telecommunications. To allow construction of a mast so close to a primary school shows how much of a priority the health of our school children is under this Government.

The failure of the current administration to even come close to the teacher-pupil ratio commitment announced in 2002 in An Agreed Programme for Government is an indictment of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin's appalling record in office. The failure of her Department to annually spend its full budget allocation——

Jim Glennon (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Deputy to conclude.

James Breen (Clare, Independent)
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——for school building in the years since then merely adds to the shame the Minister should feel, but the tabling of the amendment to the motion shows how out of touch with reality this Government is. I wish I had longer because I have much more to say.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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He is not going back anyway.

James Breen (Clare, Independent)
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The Deputy can write that down.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I wish to share time with Deputy Lynch and Deputy Gilmore.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate this evening and I congratulate Deputy O'Sullivan for proposing the motion. I hear about the issue every day in my constituency. I attended a residents' meeting yesterday and one of the main topics was the concern in the local community over development in the area, and specifically its impact on local schools. The residents see young families coming into the area but there is no plan for school places for children. They anticipate those needs and called on the Minister to ensure places would be made available. It seems all they can look forward to are prefabs.

Harold's Cross primary school is in my constituency. Next year the fourth and fifth classes will combine in a shared classroom of 37 pupils. Part of the fifth and the sixth classes will also combine with a total of 38 pupils, taught by one teacher. The school is part of the DEIS programme and it is a disservice to the pupils and teachers of the school that it is not provided with adequate teaching resources to educate its children. The school has worked really hard to provide best quality education and services for its pupils but it is totally unsatisfactory that it is expected to do so. It places a huge burden on the teachers and the pupils.

The Minister should consider the special conditions of this school and provide the necessary classes. I will declare an interest, being on the board of management of the school, and I know at first hand the effort that goes into maintaining it and ensuring the best quality service and provision of education. I never cease to be amazed at the commitment and generosity of parents who continue to fundraise for their schools so that the facilities that should be provided by the State are there for their children. It is not good enough that parents who are very often on social welfare or low incomes, as many are in my constituency, are called on to provide extras which are basics, because they are nothing remotely like a luxury for their school.

St. Michael's primary school in Inchicore has recently received attention. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of the situation. I appreciate that it was not the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, who decided to give only eight weeks' notice of closure but it put the school, the teachers and the pupils in a very difficult situation. I welcome the fact that it has been given a stay of execution of at least a year in which the situation can be reviewed. It is more than an opportunity to see where the children can otherwise be accommodated.

Most parents I encounter plan for their child's education after they are christened. They like to book them into schools in certain areas. The parents of children in St. Michael's were asked to find alternative places for their children within eight weeks. Many of the children affected are from a disadvantaged background. The fact that parents had to try to find alternative schools put a huge burden on them. Many of them would be at risk of dropping out of the school system entirely if that were to happen. We cannot allow that to happen. There is good regeneration in the area and a new community is developing. Old flats are being knocked down and nice new houses and apartments built. Young people will be coming into the area so there will be more families and a greater need for schools, but there is no boys' secondary school in that catchment area.

The National Educational Welfare Board was established to look out for children at risk and who had problems such as with poor attendance at school. In reality the board is not sufficiently resourced to address the myriad problems that arise on a daily basis, in particular where there is disadvantage. It cannot deliver the service it was set up to deliver if the resources are not available to it. It is not acceptable to have a token system in place. A protective role should ensure the right of young children to a decent education. The focus should be on those most at risk in disadvantaged areas, but that is not happening at the moment.

The fact that there is a lack of planning was raised at my constituency meeting last night. There has been an explosion of apartment-building in the area, which will inevitably attract young families and more children. Approximately two years ago there was an application for a huge development but not even a token effort to address the need for a school. All that was planned was a crèche. The local schools were already stretched but nobody had thought of the need for a new school. It highlights the lack of planning and co-ordination among the various activities and the lack of connection between local authorities and the Department of Education and Science.

The educational needs of communities have to be linked to all other developments that take place. Targets have to be set now and not when the crisis happens. The prefab era should be over and the pupil-teacher ratio should reach the promised level in line with best international practice.

I can relate to what Deputy Connolly said and it has been raised with me many times. Many principals have said they regretted taking on the responsibility or have threatened to leave because of the pressure. In one case, a principal teacher of two years threatened to leave if he did not receive adequate resources and he has done just that. He had enough.

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I congratulate the proposers of the motion, Deputy O'Sullivan and Deputy Enright. The motion is timely because we accept education and appreciate its benefits.

By choice, by inclination and by right of birth our children are citizens of the world. Right around the globe young Irish people are making their way and succeeding in every walk of life. As time goes on they will do so more and more while, at home, young Irish people are and will continue to be engaged with global issues, competing at a global level and excelling on the world stage. The world asks them only one question: "What do you know?" It does not ask them whom they know, what their father does, where they went to school or where they come from. They are not in the least bothered about that but want to know what a person knows and what they can do because that is the test. Fortunately, our citizens are doing very well. Today, tomorrow and in the future the answer will depend on education. Every year, approximately 1,000 children fail to make the transition from primary to secondary level and 18% leave secondary school without a leaving certificate. Ireland continues to have significant problems in the area of reading, particularly but not exclusively in disadvantaged areas where up to 30% of primary school children suffer severe literacy problems. This is partly because we provide primary education on the cheap, packing about a quarter of primary school students into classes of 30. Cork city and county have the greatest numbers of pupils in classes of 30 children or more. In addition, schools are often located in dilapidated buildings and are starved of funds for non-pay budgets. These problems will only affect those who succeed in finding a school place for their child.

Ireland also allows massive numbers of houses to be built on greenfield sites with no provision for extra places in schools. However, it appears to come as a complete surprise to the Department of Education and Science that when young couples move into newly built houses, children soon follow.

Class size is important to the many children who leave school unable to read, to the quiet child in a class of 30 who falls behind because the teacher does not notice she is having problems as her demands must be counted among the many of the 29 others in the room, to the troublemaker who hides his learning difficulties by playing the class stand-up comic and to the child who wants to learn but is held back because so many others need the teacher's attention. Class size is not just an abstract numbers game that teachers' unions and Opposition parties play against the Government but a vital issue for thousands of young people who are losing opportunities for their future. It is about the kind of society we are building. The school system is failing many children and giving them a negative experience, self-image and attitude towards the world.

Research has shown consistently that outcomes for young people, especially those who are disadvantaged or have learning difficulties, are much better if they are in small classes. Currently, 100,000 primary pupils are in classes of 30 children or more. A person who walked into an Irish classroom, accident and emergency ward or one of many of our local authority estates could be forgiven for believing this was one of the poorest states in Europe and one which is not addressing its problems because it cannot afford to do so. We know this is not the case. Despite being one of the richest states in Europe, Ireland's public services are among the poorest. The amount of money invested in education as a percentage of gross national product or gross domestic product places this country close to the bottom of the league in Europe and the OECD countries. Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP has declined from 5.4% in 1994 — the Government has a grá for taking us back to that year — to 4.6% this year, having dipped to 4.1 % in the year 2000 when we had never been richer.

Smaller classes are especially important in areas of disadvantage. The maximum pupil-teacher ratio in such areas should be 20:1 and 15:1 in areas of chronic disadvantage. It is crucial that we achieve these levels if we are to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and lack of opportunity.

While I do not propose to identify a specific area, I will highlight a problem regarding the school completion programme. Of the 82 school completion projects in the State, several are located in Cork city, one of which is among the largest in the country and covers eight schools. The project has three workers dealing with 1,882 pupils in eight participating schools spread over a large geographical area. As regards the measures of disadvantage used for schools participating in the programme, figures show that 67% of pupils in the eight participating schools live in a family where the head of household is unemployment and 68% live in families which hold a medical card. Although they faced a virtually impossible task, the project workers managed quite well until the decision was taken not to increase the project's annual budget. This meant that no increases were forthcoming to cover the costs of wage agreements and benchmarking, with the result that the number of project workers was reduced to two.

I met the principals of five of the schools in question the other morning. These are busy individuals who would not take time off to talk to me unless they were seriously concerned about an issue. They informed me that the project has caused them numerous headaches but they work hard on it because they believe it will be successful, having seen its benefits to the children in their schools. Despite this, the project must be cut back repeatedly because it is receives only a cost of living increase every year and this does not keep pace with the cost of paying the staff they wish to retain.

Class size is also of prime importance to children with special learning needs who are increasingly accommodated in mainstream schools. The early years, in particular, are vital. It has been common for specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia to remain undetected. Smaller classes would make it much easier for teachers to develop a relationship with each child and thus enable him or her to spot the signs of disability at an early date. Smaller class sizes are not the only solution but important programmes such as Breaking the Cycle and the school completion projects are being cut back.

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I compliment my colleague, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, on tabling the motion which I support. Ireland takes a rather unusual approach to the integration of education planning with physical and social planning. In most countries the planning of schools is at the centre, if not the start, of the entire planning process. The reverse is the case here. We tend to plan housing development and address school needs once houses have been built. If we are lucky, a site is reserved for a school and if we are unlucky, we end up with children being ferried hither and thither from recently built estates. We need to rectify this problem.

We must also take into account the fact that educational needs change with time. In my constituency the shortage of second level places and lack of choice of second level schools are the most common issues raised by parents. My constituency is unusual in that most of the second level places in my constituency are fee-paying. Consequently, the choice left for those who wish or must avail of the non-paying sector is much more limited. I emphasise, however, that Dún Laoghaire in my constituency and Bray in the adjoining constituency are served by many excellent schools.

Shankill, which has a population of 15,000, needs a new second level school and parents are demanding that one be established in the area. This demand could be easily met. Two years ago the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, inexplicably decided to close down Shanganagh Castle, a young offenders centre. The buildings, which have been vacant ever since, contain educational facilities and classrooms and could, with a certain amount of refurbishment, be developed as a viable second level school to serve an area of growing population. The castle has the added advantage of having grounds which could accommodate the playing facilities necessary for a second level school.

I ask the Minister to raise with the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the local authority the possibility of redeveloping Shanganagh Castle as a second level school to serve the growing catchment and, in so doing, provide added choice and places for the many people in my constituency who wish to avail of second level education for their children in the non-fee paying sector. I also ask her to consult local schools which would clearly have an interest in the matter. It is a need which must be met. There is a readily available solution and, frankly, I do not understand why this need has not been addressed before now.

This is a subject I have raised by way of Dáil questions with the Minister for Education and Science. In her replies, she was not disposed to the provision of a new second level school for the Shankill area but I ask the Minister of State to reconsider the matter because there is a real need for it. I meet parents all the time who are seeking the provision of additional second level places in the non-fee paying sector. They include parents who, in some cases, resent the fact that they are being pressed into paying fees, rather than having a range of options in the non-fee paying sector that is available in most other parts of the country.

Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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In requesting the House to endorse the record achievements of this Government in education since 1997, I ask the House to look at the facts. As the Minister for Education and Science said here last night, the priority this Government attaches to providing quality education at all levels is evident from the fact that the budget for the Department has doubled since 1997 from €3.1 billion to €7.9 billion currently.

The facts show the sea change that has been brought about since 1997 and they demonstrate clearly and unambiguously our sustained commitment to rectifying the deficit in every area of education. It is revealing to look at the facts. Some €3.9 billion has been allocated for capital funding over the next five years. Some €2.5 billion is being spent on school building between 2000 and the end of 2006. Over 1,100 projects will be carried out in schools on a rolling basis over the next 18 months. Some 23 new post-primary and four new primary schools will be delivered under the PPP programme. Between 2000 and 2005, a total of 6,287 large and small-scale building projects were completed, along with 4,778 primary school projects and 1,509 post-primary school projects.

New targeted planning processes, building delivery systems and devolved delivery schemes have been introduced to fast track provision. The local contribution for State-owned buildings, which had cost €63,000, has been abolished and 4,000 extra teachers have been provided since 2002. The average primary cIass size has been reduced from 27 to 24 and the pupil-teacher ratio has been improved to the point where there is one teacher for every 17 pupils at primary level and one for every 13.4 pupils at post-primary level. On top of this, over the next two years, funding has been secured to provide an extra 500 teachers to reduce cIass sizes further and tackle disadvantage.

On the disadvantage front, a new action plan called the DEIS programme, which is being implemented on a phased basis, has been introduced and will benefit pupils in 640 primary schools — 320 urban and 320 rural — and 200 post-primary schools. The full implementation of this plan will cost €40 million.

Significant advances have also been made on the special needs front, which have made a real difference to the lives of many children with special needs and their families. There are now over 5,000 teachers in our primary schools working directly with children with special needs, including those requiring learning support. There are also over 7,100 special needs assistants in our schools. Over €30 million is spent on school transport for special needs pupils and over €3 million is now allocated towards specialised equipment and materials for pupils with special educational needs. This figure is up from €0.8 million in 1998. ln addition, the level of resources to support students with special educational needs in the second level system has also grown significantly in recent years.

The Department is currently funding 12 autism-specific facilities that are operating on a pilot basis. These facilities are providing an applied behavioural analysis model of response, which is one of a range of models of approach to the education of children with autism.

I want to clarify a number of issues which have arisen in this debate. These include the processes involved in prioritising school building projects and the fact that the published prioritisation criteria in place emerged following consultation with the education partners. Rapidly developing areas attract a band one priority rating under the criteria, which is the highest band rating possible. I remind Deputies that the school building programme must proceed on a fair and rational basis as set out in the criteria. Under no circumstances will it proceed on the basis of who shouts loudest or seeks to grab media attention.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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We are looking for a fair system.

Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Regarding the significant plans in train to provide the requisite accommodation in Dublin 15, I find it difficult to accept the proposals put forward by Deputy Burton who persists in trying to create panic over this matter. This is despite having been told of these plans time and again by the Minister, Deputy Hanafin. It may be colourful and headline grabbing to make outrageous allegations but the responsibility for the needless stress placed on parents will then have to be borne by her. The equally reckless allegation of a shortage of pupil places in Swords is unacceptable. There is no shortage. In media reports, the parents themselves accepted this and explained that they were merely exercising choice. I could pick off other points regarding class sizes, pupil-teacher ratios and prefab accommodation but I have made clear the huge improvements that have been made in recent years, particularly since 1997.

I wish to refer briefly to school transport, an issue raised earlier which concerns my own area of responsibility. The safety of such transport will continue to be a priority. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, told CIE representatives yesterday that he wants Bus Éireann to examine its maintenance procedures. This was also mentioned by the Taoiseach on the Order of Business this morning.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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At last.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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I wish to share time with Deputy Wall.

Jim Glennon (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Stagg has 15 minutes in this slot.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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I thank our spokesperson on education, Deputy O'Sullivan, and the Fine Gael spokesperson, Deputy Enright, for having tabled this motion. The right to a primary education is so basic and important that it is enshrined in Article 42 of the Constitution. Every parent in this rich country has a right to expect that that constitutional commitment will be honoured and that school places of a high standard will be provided for all children old enough to attend primary school. However, decent hard-working families who pay their taxes find that the constitutional commitment to which I referred is not being honoured by their own Government. They find that their children are taught in unsuitable and over-crowded prefabs or cannot find a school place for them regardless of what the Minister says about the matter.

The number of primary school places required in any community is entirely predictable. There is no rocket science involved. We have the census results, we know what land is zoned for development, and we can predict accurately the number of children and when they will need school places. It never ceases to amaze me that as a society we can build houses so rapidly that they seem to spring up of their own volition, like mushrooms. However, the provision of schools is hog-bound in bureaucratic procedures and red tape that takes years to produce a school.

Somebody should tell the educational planners the simple truth that when houses are built and young couples live together the natural outcome is that children are produced. From four and half years of age, children need school places. Somebody should also tell the educational planners about modern methods of producing buildings, especially buildings that are basically all the same. It is not necessary to go through a myriad of stages to get to a final decision. Perhaps the Minister might do these simple things to cut the red tape and actually produce classrooms. I assure parents and their children that when Deputy O'Sullivan is Minister for Education and Science in a year's time, she will do that. I also assure parents that Labour in Government will abolish the practice of providing prefab classrooms as a first resort. Such sub-standard accommodation will only be used in an emergency.

I will cite two case studies to demonstrate the points I am making. First, I will take the case of Kill national school, which was built in 1951. It now has nine prefabs in the school yard and another is being put in this summer. That will be the last prefab as no more will fit. Some 23 children have been refused places there in September because there is no room. The "oldest come first" rule has been applied, so some children will be six years old before they get places. Protestants have been told they are at the back of the queue. The school is now on a traffic island on the busiest motorway in the country and in the middle of one of the biggest engineering projects nationwide. The question must be asked again and again as to why this dire and acute situation has been allowed to develop to the crisis level that now exists in Kill, not just for the children who cannot get a school place for next year but also for the generation of children who have gone right through their primary education in sub-standard and overcrowded conditions.

The Department of Education and Science had access to the last and second last censuses for Kill. The Department and Minister were given a copy of the Kill development plan that accurately predicted the level of house building in the area. They could accurately calculate the number of children and the number of school places required in Kill.

What action has been taken to meet the entirely predictable demand for school places? In 1999, seven years ago, the OPW was instructed by one of the Minister's predecessors to find a suitable site in Kill for a new school. In 2002 a development plan was adopted for Kill village. The Fianna Fáil majority was generous to local landowners by zoning large tracts of land for housing but they zoned only one site for educational use, a site deemed to be archaeologically sensitive on which no building would be allowed. What a farce.

Every year, including this year, another prefab has been added and the playground area has been shrinking. In March of this year the OPW, after seven years, announced it had agreed a price with a developer for a school site in Kill. However, it now transpires that the deal is contingent on more land being zoned and even more houses built before the contract can be signed. This practice of holding the community to ransom, a form of community blackmail, is to be condemned and should be outlawed by making the compulsory acquisition of land for schools a legal possibility. In Government, the Labour Party will positively examine this option.

We can now see that in Kill the Department and successive Ministers failed over a seven year period to find a site and build the required school, and there is very little light at the end of that tunnel. Meanwhile the children of Kill are condemned to schooling in substandard and overcrowded conditions in the middle of a traffic island while other children cannot even get a place there. This is hardly to cherish all the children of the nation equally or fulfil the constitutional guarantee to our children.

My second case study concerns the primary schools of Naas, the capital town of County Kildare which has seen rapid growth in the past ten years. This growth was planned, with predictable increases in the number of children and required school places. There are 2,375 pupils in the five existing national schools serving the town, with 400 of these accommodated in prefabs or so-called temporary accommodation.

These schools are bursting at the seams and cannot expand any further. A new 16-classroom school has been completed and has two infant classes. With the completion of the new school, the long-suffering parents and their children thought that some level of relief, some salvation from the dire situation, was at hand, but their hopes have been dashed. The Minister, Deputy Hanafin, has decided that the new school is to remain empty except for the infant classes. The school, Scoil Bríde, will not be fully utilised until 2013, with only one class added each year — that is the Minister's decision, which I received in writing from her yesterday. This means that in 2007 some 14 state-of-the-art classrooms, with all the ancillary facilities and built with taxpayers' money, will be vacant except for a security company which will mind it while 400 children are forced to finish their primary education in so-called temporary accommodation. For most of these children, there is nothing temporary about this accommodation; it is the only type they have ever known. They have been and continue to be deprived by the action of the Minister.

I rest my case, which is well demonstrated by the examples of Kill and Naas, one a small village and the other the capital town of the county.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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On behalf of the two proposers of the motion, Deputies O'Sullivan and Enright, I thank all the contributors who have made such a contribution to it. I am sure both Deputies are gratified that such a high percentage of Deputies, many on the Government side, agreed with the thrust of the motion.

At a time when two major items, health and education, have been discussed in the House, it is ironic that so many factors are common to both. In the health services there are major problems of overcrowding, lack of facilities and lack of expertise to ensure in particular the health of the dear ones we all love, our senior citizens. This debate is focused on the other end of the spectrum. We are here fighting on behalf of the children — the adults and parents of tomorrow — who suffer a similar lack of facilities and support mechanisms. The general thrust of my argument is that the Government has failed these two most important groups, the senior citizens and the children, the parents of tomorrow.

As a proud race, one of our favourite sayings is "Tús maith is leath an oibre", meaning a good start is half the work. Our primary school children, in particular those in Kildare, are not getting a good start and are being taught in prefabs and overcrowded rooms that do not lend themselves to a good or even a fair start.

The Minister referred to the national average class size. Kildare, one of the most advanced counties in Ireland in terms of its information technology sector which has resulted from commercial and industrial development, is well outside the figures suggested by the Minister. She referred to there being an average of 24 pupils per teacher. In Kildare for the past four years there has been an average of 26.8 pupils per teacher. The last figures I received from the Minister showed that the average class size was on the increase when compared to the national figures. Kildare is going in the opposite direction to that which has been held up as a wonderful achievement by the Government.

In Scoil Mhuire in Ballymore, 75% of the classes exceed 31 pupils and the three senior classes have 35 children in each. The amazing point about this school is that it has two empty classrooms which are insured and heated and cost the board of management resources to maintain. The difficulty is that it is necessary to go through an appeal process to get a teacher to provide classes. With one appointment by the Minister, the class sizes in the school would drop dramatically to the national average. Despite that, the red tape appears, there are appeals and the issue is put on the long finger. The people of Ballymore were expected to make a major contribution when that school was refurbished, which they did without fear or favour. They searched the highways and byways of Ballymore to raise money but now they experience the frustration of having to go through an appeal process to get an extra teacher to make a difference for their children.

Children are the most important resource. This issue is not about red tape or the Minister gloating about figures in the House. We do not seem to realise that the children of today are the parents of tomorrow. We focus on the financial implications that may upset the budget or deny the Government the opportunity to introduce a major budget as it moves into an election year.

Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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The people will not be codded.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I hope not. They will certainly not be codded in Kildare.

I wish to refer to the time factor. There are adults in Athy resource centre who are trying to get on the employment ladder and are going back to school. I raised this matter with the Minister but she referred it to the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, for reply. In addition to their measly wage packet because they are going back to school they get an extra €6 or €7. That money is used to pay the rent for a classroom in order to obtain the education they need. The Minister referred the matter to the Minister of State a month ago but I have heard nothing since. Given that I am raising the matter this evening I hope to have a reply. I hope also that there will be an opportunity for those people to get off the bottom of the ladder through education and to make application for employment.

We have always said tomorrow can be better. It could certainly be better if the Government had the confidence of everyone involved. There are teachers in every parish and town who are second to none. They have given their all, yet they are frustrated, demented and tormented because of the lack of facilities to enable them to teach, to prepare the young people of today for tomorrow. They should not be required to babysit or to be in a classroom with 35 children where they cannot teach. Nobody in the House will say that one teacher can look after 35 children in one classroom. If they are in a senior class that is neither feasible nor possible. Yet in County Kildare we are moving towards that number in the classroom as the pupil-teacher ratio is increasing rather than decreasing, which the Minister of State highlighted as one of the major factors.

Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Shame on the Government.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Parents must be happy that their children will be educated in schools that boast the type of facilities associated with a prosperous modern European country. They must be secure in the knowledge that when their children go to school they will be educated by teachers who have time to teach and are not there to babysit large numbers of children. They must have confidence in the Government's ability to plan the facilities and type of education parents want and their children need. Unfortunately, they do not have that confidence in the Government.

Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Well done.