Dáil debates

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

6:00 pm

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that over the last number of years there has been a significant increase in resources allocated to education and training, including:

- the increase in primary teacher numbers from 21,000 to over 37,000, with a reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio from 22:1 to 16:1;

- the introduction of a wide range of new special education schemes underpinned by the expansion of the number of special needs assistants from 250 to over 10,000;

- the expansion in third level participation from 100,000 students to almost 160,000; and

- the creation of research programmes which have brought Ireland to a world leading position in key areas and are currently underpinning the majority of job creating investments in Ireland;

further acknowledges that in spite of these and other improvements there remain significant issues within the education and training system which require to be addressed;

believes that education and training will be a central part in economic recovery and job creation in the months and years ahead; and

therefore states its belief that education and training should be protected as a priority area for funding in future budgets.

With the permission of the House, I will share time with Deputy Dara Calleary.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Photo of Brendan SmithBrendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for Education and Skills has pointed out that there is a clerical error in the motion circulated; the total number of primary teachers should be 31,700, which represents an increase of 51%.

In the last month a series of urgent issues has rightly dominated our discussions in this House. However, we should never lose sight of the need to make sure longer term issues also receive attention. Nobody can question the idea that education lies at the heart of the future of the country. The major expansions in provision and participation levels in the past four decades provided the essential foundations for broad and deep social and economic progress. As we consider the policies required to help Ireland to build a lasting recovery, we should be clear in stating education is a priority.

This is the first time education has been debated in the 31st Dáil. It is not the typical partisan motion which has too often been the mainstay of Private Members' debates in recent years. Our intention is to put before the House a constructive motion based on a core principle which all parties should be able to support. The motion points to a number of areas in which it is impossible to deny progress, but it equally acknowledges that serious problems remain in the education system. It expresses the belief education will be central to recovery and states the House believes it should be a priority. It attacks nobody and demands no extra spending. It simply states that in the allocation of what is available education and training should be a priority. We believe it is important for the Dáil to make this statement not just because it is early in a new term but also because budget policy is being discussed by the Government and important decisions will be made in the near future.

In the past few weeks there has been a number of occasions on which a wider consensus of the House could have been achieved on a motion had the Government been willing either to consult the Opposition or pass up an opportunity to introduce an amendment to require the Opposition to endorse the Government. I hope the Government will not insist on pursuing this tactic in tomorrow night's vote, but it is clear from the reaction of the Minister for Education and Skills that this will be the case. There is nothing in the motion which is incompatible with the manifesto of either Government party or the programme for Government. On a number of occasions in the last month we have supported Government proposals and I hope this will be reciprocated in the vote on this motion.

One of the great failings of debate in this House has been that issues have been approached in an almost cartoonish way by different sides. Our debates are generally framed around the idea that everything can be seen as black or white. The Opposition denies progress and the Government is reluctant to concede that there are problems. A new variation was pursued by the Government last month when it was implied that nothing positive had happened in Ireland before 9 March. I acknowledge the ingenuity of Government scriptwriters in finding new ways to explain how policies which were disastrous on 8 March are radical and visionary today. The ungenerous and narrow approach to spinning and diminishing clear advances made in recent years reflects poorly on those involved. They would be well advised to understand such spinning has a habit of rebounding badly in the long run. Fundamentally, we cannot have a constructive debate on policy if we insist on denying progress has been made. It is not possible to set a credible and effective agenda for the future of the education system if we blindly refuse to give any credit for past policies or accept that many things are better today than they were in the past.

Serious issues remain to be addressed in the education system in the years ahead. Many of these have been identified in the programme for Government and were identified by parties on all sides of the House during the campaign in February. However, let us not fail to recognise what has been achieved or fall into the trap of believing every problem we face is uniquely Irish. I recognise there are unique elements to our system, but the underlying educational issues in areas such as literacy and standards are ones shared with many countries. The fact is there has been significant expansion in every element of the education system in recent years. Resources have expanded, as have the positive outcomes in the system. Class sizes in Ireland are high in some schools, but they have been steadily reduced in all schools and are today at their lowest levels in history. There are many schools in significant need of capital investment, but the largest building and refurbishment programme in our history has been under way for many years. The OECD has shown that, on average, our school buildings rate well internationally. Participation in third level education remains unequal, but the rate of increase has been fastest in groups which have historically had very low participation rates.

While education is at the core of any commitment to social progress, its economic role is undeniable. At a time of enormous pressures those areas of the economy most reliant on the education system are also the strongest. In areas in which education based skills and knowledge are the key to success Ireland is continuing to be a world leader. Knowledge intensive industries that are our greatest bright spot present our greatest opportunities for the future. Every serious examination of how Ireland will recover sees export-led, knowledge intensive industries as the essential element. That is why the Dáil should signal that education will be a priority when vital fiscal decisions are taken. It should also support a programme of addressing key weaknesses within the system.

The expansion in the primary education sector in recent years has been unprecedented and is something which happened by choice. In early 1997 the then Government endorsed a fiscal policy based on the idea that there would be a reduction in the number of teachers. It also entrenched capital funding policies which put up an enormous roadblock against parents and communities which wanted to build new schools or expand existing ones. No one in the House could dispute that the move away from this policy towards a sustained programme to increase teaching resources and enable new schools to be provided was the right one. The expansion in the number of primary teaching positions from 21,000 to 31,700 has been enormously beneficial, as has the increase in non-traditional patronage of schools which has been enabled to reach critical mass which allows for further expansion. These new teachers and schools are doing great work which should not be undermined as we seek to deal with our undoubted problems.

I have always had a personal interest in special needs education and intend to raise the issue regularly as my party's spokesperson. I hope Deputies will acknowledge the dramatic increase in support for children with special needs in recent years. By any measure, the increase in the number of special needs assistants from 250 to 10,000 is significant. Each of us, as individuals or public representatives, knows students who have benefited from this worthwhile and necessary investment.

The most recent literacy surveys have highlighted important concerns. While factoring in the reality of non native speakers in the figures, there is no doubt that Ireland needs to improve literacy levels in its primary schools.

Fianna Fáil welcomes the Government's stated intention to prioritise this area and I heard the Minister speak eloquently on this. I welcome the move from a rigid curriculum which ultimately excluded as many as it helped. The introduction of many important areas into the curriculum in the last decade has been very positive but the need to revisit and strengthen the emphasis on literacy is clear. The Minister will find us to be constructive on this matter and eager to debate evidence-based solutions to the problem.

The four year fiscal strategy outlined in November last contained funding to increase the numbers of posts in education and maintain a high level of funding for school building. We hope that this high priority given to education will be maintained.

On a number of occasions, the Minister has pointed out that Ireland has an unusually large number of small primary schools primarily, although not exclusively, in rural areas. He has rightly pointed out that there is a value for money audit going on into the spending attached to these schools. Our position on this review is that it is about maximising the educational return to communities from these schools and not about finding ways of rationalising them. There may be areas where shared resources, such as specialist teaching and IT support, could make a big difference. In my county, our vocational education committee provides information technology services to voluntary secondary schools and to a number of primary schools. That type of initiative must be given further momentum in all areas of public service, whether central or local government. This would correspond to some of the clustering work which has been carried out so well under disadvantaged area schemes. However, I want to make it clear, as we did well before the election, we do not, and will not, support any programme to rationalise smaller schools.

In government we very explicitly increased the teaching and other resources available to small schools. The number of one teacher schools was cut not by closing them but by giving them extra teachers. We did this because we see local primary schools as an irreplaceable part of community life. This is true for areas with few people as well as for minority religious communities. In fact, the biggest beneficiaries of expanded support for small schools have been the schools of Protestant denominations outside of Dublin.

The Minister should be clear that we will support him if his agenda is to increase the educational gain from spending on these schools. If his agenda is to reintroduce the rationalisation programme which we abandoned in 1997, we will oppose him as strongly as we can.

At second level, school completion figures have increased over the long-term due to a range of measures, including curriculum diversity. Research indicates that completion is likely to increase further due to economic circumstances. There is no doubt that the issue of standards and the relevance of courses is the most important item on the Minister's agenda.

The programme for Government commits to the reform of the junior certificate and leaving certificate, including reform of mathematics and science teaching at second level. The Government also plans to introduce a bonus system for mathematics, make science a compulsory subject by 2014 and continue investment in the professional development of mathematics and science teachers. I strongly welcome this commitment to the improvement of mathematics and science teaching at second level, building on progress made in recent years. As a recent study from the Higher Education Authority showed, prior educational attainment, particularly in leaving certificate mathematics, is closely associated with successful progression through higher education. In terms of individual subjects, leaving certificate mathematics appears to be most strongly linked to successful progression to higher education after secondary school.

The HEA study last October also found that prior educational attainment outweighs all other factors, including social class, gender and choice of education institution, when determining how likely it is that a student will go on to college and complete his or her certificate or degree. Students with low levels of achievement in leaving certificate mathematics are the most likely to drop out of the higher education course where such students have enrolled in scientific or technological courses.

In the past couple of years, a major programme of reform was introduced designed to encourage a better understanding of mathematics, to reinforce the practical relevance of mathematics to everyday life and to ensure better continuity between primary and second levels and between junior and senior cycles.

The former Minister for Education and Science, Batt O'Keeffe, introduced the project mathematics initiative in 2008 which was first piloted in 24 schools but has since been mainstreamed in all secondary schools across the country since September 2010. This initiative was supported by a national programme of professional development for teachers which began in 2009. While it is early days, the emerging results are positive with 18.5% taking higher level mathematics in those schools where project mathematics was piloted compared to 16% nationally. I welcome the Government's commitment to this initiative.

In science, there have also been further increases in participation rates in chemistry and biology but participation in physics was down very slightly this year. Engineering and technology have also had increases in participation rates at higher level. I welcome the proposal in the programme for Government to make science a compulsory subject by 2014.

The report of the innovation task force recommended the introduction of bonus points for higher level mathematics so students beginning their leaving certificate can make informed decisions about subject and level choice now. The former Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, indicated her own view at the time of the desirability of sending a clear signal to second level students about the introduction of CAO bonus points for achievement in leaving certificate mathematics at higher level. She wrote to all seven universities and they all agreed last year to the introduction of bonus points for mathematics. This scheme will run on a pilot basis for four years from 2012.

This Government's commitment to follow through with measures on mathematics and science reform is to be welcomed and we support it. I would also like to see the Government make a clear commitment to protect funding for the project mathematics initiative and the professional development of mathematics and science teachers.

We acknowledge that problems remain in our system in terms of early school leaving and that more can be done to encourage greater completion levels at leaving certificate level, particularly among young males. An ESRI report, No Way Back, found that approximately 9,000 teenagers are leaving school every year without completing second level education. Since the mid-1990s the level of school completion has remained relatively stable at 80% to 83%, with gender and social class strong determinants in early school leaving. Young men from working class or unemployed households are most likely to leave school before completing the leaving certificate. The report found that Ireland occupies an intermediate position in rates of early school leaving in Europe with levels of early leaving lower in Ireland than the European average.

In order to tackle early school leaving, we need to tackle disadvantage within our school system. We welcome the Government's commitment to follow through on measures aimed at tackling disadvantage in our schools. The programme for Government commits to maintaining the free pre-school year in early childhood care and early childhood care and education and commits to considering the recommendations of the review of the DEIS programme. While it is too soon to assess the impact of the free pre-school year, the take up of the scheme has been considerable and it is welcome news that the Government is proceeding with this important initiative. The introduction of the free pre-school year has been widely welcomed by people, in particular by child care providers and by many parents. The initiative has been mentioned to me many times by parents since its introduction a relatively short time ago. It is an innovative and a positive measure which has produced very good results.

For those who leave school early or who have completed their schooling, a wide range of training measures are required for people of all abilities. The national recovery plan provided for stronger activation measures for the unemployed, including the setting up of a community work placement programme, a skills development internship programme and additional placements on the work placement programme.

Last December a suite of new and expanded initiatives were announced which were designed to provide assistance to the unemployed, with a particular focus on graduates and apprentices. These included the creation of a new €20 million multi-annual higher education labour market fund, an expanded redundant apprentice placement scheme for up to 1,000 apprentices, 700 places in the institutes of technology for redundant apprentices to complete their training, 5,000 places on a new skills development and internship programme and the expansion of the work placement programme from 5,000 to 7,500 places.

These initiatives are in addition to a total of almost 465,000 training and education places currently available in 2011. Of those, 140,000 are training places, 168,000 are in the further education sector and 156,000 are in the higher education sector. We believe in the importance of providing training for people according to their own abilities. I hope to have the opportunity to debate further education in the near future. There is major potential to provide that upskilling in a good geographic spread because of the presence of our post leaving certificate colleges and our colleges of further education in areas where there is no easy access to institutes of technology or FÁS training centres.

The programme for Government commits to providing additional training, work experience and education places for the unemployed and to do so in a supplementary budget. However, it is unclear which additional training measures it intends to pursue. We urge the Government to prioritise the introduction of training measures focused on key skills needs of the economy.

One of the most surprising aspects of the programme for Government is the lack of detail around the Government's strategy for higher education. It simply says that it will review the recommendations of the recent Hunt report and reform third level funding. With higher education playing such a crucial role in our economic recovery and job creation, greater clarity is needed around its plans for the sector.

Last week, a unique new world university ranking by subject placed a number of Irish universities in the top 100 for their engineering and technology degree programmes. The survey was unique in that the ranking took into account the employability of graduates. The results of this survey are hugely significant for Ireland and the universities involved. Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and University College Cork all achieved placing in the world's top 100.

These results confirm that the massive investment in the third level sector is paying off. Not only are we producing some of best graduates in the world, but we are employing some of the best graduates in the world in computer science, technology and engineering. These sectors are critical to economic recovery and job creation. This country cannot afford for this progress to be squandered. Progress must be built upon.

During our time in government we were hugely successful in pursuing ambitious goals to widen participation and increase student and graduate numbers. As a result, we have positioned ourselves in the front rank of OECD countries. The expansion of opportunities for higher education in Ireland is reflected best in the attainment levels of young adults, 45% of whom have now acquired a higher education qualification. The proportion of 18-year-old people entering higher education is approaching two thirds. Alongside this dramatic expansion, we significantly increased retention rates at third level over the past decade. A recent HEA study on the issue of early college leaving found that 85% of students progress from first year to second year and that the Irish higher education system compares favourably with other countries in terms of student progression and course completion. There is a progression rate in the university sector of 91% and in the institute of technology sector of 84% on honours degree programmes. As with every country with expanding tertiary provision, we have to be vigilant about the use of the money and the standards achieved within the system. We will support the Minister in his efforts in this area.

Over the past decade we have witnessed a dramatic transformation of the research landscape in Ireland. In 1997 the exact total of dedicated research funding allocated to the Department of Education was zero. Not only has the level of funding changed, it is a great example of clear, measurable progress emerging as an output. Last year, a comprehensive international study of higher education research performance ranked Ireland eighth on the impact of our research publications and also noted that the volume of research articles and reviews from Irish universities and colleges published in recognised international journals more than doubled in the past decade. On volume, Ireland shows an impressive increase of 33% in terms of research output for the five years 2002-07, second only to China in terms of the increase.

According to the chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, not only have we become a serious player in research but we have made an impact. I hope the Government will place the same level of importance on investment in research and that the next step for the Government will be to increase collaboration between universities in the area of research, and between institutions in Northern Ireland and the Republic. The synergy and benefits of collaboration on an all-Ireland basis must be pursued.

Investment in education and training has delivered great progress to Ireland in the past and will be central to building a positive future. Even at a time of great fiscal pressure there are choices that can be made in allocating funds and there are many initiatives that require few if any resources. Education cannot escape untouched, but it can and should be given a priority. The Government has many welcome education proposals in its programme, as well as many areas that remain unformed. We will support the Minister in many of his intended initiatives but we will also strongly oppose him where we disagree. I commend the motion to the House.

Photo of Dara CallearyDara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I am happy to second the motion and I commend Deputy Smith on tabling it. This is the first occasion I have been in the Chamber since the appointment of the Minister and I wish him every success in his term of office. I commend the Government for not opposing this motion. As outlined by Deputy Smith, it sends a good signal on the ability of this House to co-operate on education.

I will start where Deputy Smith finished. In the last Dáil, in my capacity as Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and an Innovation, I had the occasion to visit several research centres, including the centre at Trinity College Dublin, across the road in the Minister's constituency. It was an amazing experience. For someone with an allergy to science and anything to do with it, it opened my eyes to the investment the country has made and the ability to make that investment apply to people's daily lives. The equipment in that centre was far superior to many of the world leading companies based in Ireland. I saw the commitment of the researchers and the work they did. One could make the connection between that work and the positive impact on people's daily lives in the months and years ahead. Investment in research and development in our education system is real and it goes far beyond the boundaries of education. That has been typical of the State's investment in education. It has gone beyond the boundaries of education for many decades and generations and through many Governments. That should continue.

I also visited NUIG and Sligo IT to see the physical investment on campuses. Superb management, including people such as Terri Scott, has transformed the presentation of the campuses and their ability to attract private investment. The business innovation centre at Sligo IT is a must see for the Minister. It gives students doing research the chance to commercialise their findings and a chance to remain in the supportive environment of the campus while testing their feet in the commercial waters. We must also use the physical investment to challenge teaching standards and ambitions. I refer in particular to our IT structure. The Croke Park agreement gives the Minister and the education system an ambitious roadmap. After some delay, most unions have signed up to it. Let us take the Croke Park agreement ball and run quickly with it. Our third level education system has often broken barriers for Ireland's economy. The Ballyfermot College of Further Education introduced animation as an Irish industry and challenged those students. It showed that Irish students could be animators and they went on to win Oscars. DCU, UL and the National Institute for Higher Education, NIHE, which I am young enough to remember, provided courses on international relations and were the first colleges to bring trade on to the Irish academic syllabus. It is that sector that must challenge where the jobs and income for Ireland will be in the future. With the investments being made, including the physical and academic investments, and with far greater numbers than heretofore of Irish academics now travelling abroad and coming back with new knowledge, the jobs of the future, which we cannot yet envisage, will come.

I also acknowledge the role played by the College of Surgeons in flying the flag for Ireland abroad, including in Middle East markets. Some 30 or 40 years ago the College of Surgeons was opening doors to markets we now take for granted in terms of so much more than education, including food, medical devices and so on. This shows that education is not boxed but affects our entire economy, country and culture. The benefit of all of this is lost if we cannot get people into or keep them in the system. Deputy Smith referred to educational disadvantage. I see education as the ultimate roadmap out of disadvantage. If we offer young disadvantaged people a proper chance to engage and, more importantly, remain in education we give them a chance to get out of that disadvantaged situation.

We have invested a huge amount of money over many years in various disadvantage programmes. While that investment was big in terms of monetary value, its effectiveness may have been lost owing to the scattered and dispersed nature of how it was managed. The Departments of Education and Skills, Health and Children, through the HSE, Social Protection and local area based partnerships are involved in this area. If we could centralise that investment in one spending centre we could then track outcomes and ensure there is consistency of outcomes and that those taking part in these programmes get the best chances.

I encourage the Minister to publish the DEIS review as soon as possible. For me, DEIS presents serious problems. I fear that it does not fully capture rural disadvantage in particular. The measurements of DEIS are urban focussed and because of this rural disadvantage is losing out. For example, Erris in County Mayo has 21 primary schools pending the Department's review. Some 20 of those schools are designated DEIS schools, the 21st should be so designated but there are issues in the school. These 20 schools feed three secondary schools, two of which are designated DEIS schools while the third is not. Two of the three secondary schools are located on the one campus beside each other, one of which is designated DEIS and the other is not. Therefore, a person from the designated DEIS secondary school is disadvantaged while his or her sibling who attends the non-designated DEIS school is not. When DEIS is removed from a the loss in terms of supports from school books to teaching support is significant.

I note from the 2006 review that rural disadvantage in particular is not tracked. I wonder if in putting disadvantage funding into a school model we are losing sight of the fact that the disadvantage may be arising in the home as opposed to the school the child attends. Should we, in the context of that review, on which I want to engage with the Minister, consider attaching the funding to the student rather than the physical entity that is the school? A disadvantage programme should start in the home. We all know that many students go to school without breakfast, without which they are not able to concentrate at school. A disadvantage programme should continue in the school towards resource teachers, the student, SNAs if needed and school lunches to ensure children receive nutrition. School lunches are funded by the Department of Social Protection.

A disadvantage programme should continue in a post-school situation through homework clubs, which are outstanding and are operated through area based partnerships. The homework clubs are essential because the concept of study and after school attention is often not understood or encouraged. This is where everything done in the classroom is lost. Any programme of disadvantage needs to be consistent and less dispersed and scattered. We should, perhaps, consider how we ensure the disadvantaged person, the student, rather than the physical entity, the school, remains at the heart of the programme.

There are two other issues I wish to deal with before moving on to the issue of rural schools. I plead with the Minister to resolve the conundrum that is ABA education in relation to autistic children. Many Ministers from my party tried to do so when in Government, some enthusiastically, some less so. There is an issue within the Department of Education and Skills in regard to the treatment of ABA education. Many parents with autistic children swear by it. Who knows a child better than a parent? I am aware there are court cases pending in this regard. For the sake of those parents who have autistic children who are responding to ABA education let us address this issue. Surely all of us in this House who have an interest in this can knock heads together for once and for all and get rid of the vested interests around this.

The programme for national recovery provided for a cutback in Traveller education. While I acknowledge this measure was introduced by the last Government I ask that it be reviewed. Traveller education requires many more approaches than used in standard education. I fear that if we pull back from the resource teachers engaged in this area, we will lose many of the gains made. Adopting a common approach for Traveller education will damage what we are trying to do in terms of introducing education as a value. I join with Deputy Smith in expressing serious concern about remarks attributed to the Minister, perhaps out of context, in relation to rural schools.

Rural schools are essential to the fabric of rural Ireland. Earlier today, we were discussing rural post offices. If we allow the school to go we allow the value and identity of the parish to go with it. We allow people who return to education and have pride in a school to go too. In considering this in financial terms, we miss so much more. We miss the advantages that children in a rural school have in terms of their educational attainment and standard. While it might be better for some to be in a bigger school, generally, teachers and support staff who serve rural schools are model teachers in terms of their contributions not alone to the school but to the wider school community. This is an issue that I fear the Minister and I will fall out on unless it is handled properly.

We should all celebrate Irish education. We should celebrate its achievements since the foundation of the State and celebrate what it has done for us on this island and internationally. We should also not be afraid to point out its weaknesses, as Deputy Smith has done. The incoming education committee has an important role to play in terms of identifying priorities rather than trying to tackle everything that is wrong. Let us take chunks out of the problems and turn them into opportunities. If we do so, we will at the end of the Minister's term in office and that of the 31st Dáil, have done the State some service.

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to share time with Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I congratulate Deputy Smith on his appointment as Fianna Fáil spokesperson on education. I hope to have a constructive and positive relationship with him, as we have had in the past. On the comments made by Deputy Calleary, let me take this opportunity to clarify the record in regard to the value for money exercise in rural schools. There are 620 rural schools in the country with less than 50 pupils. Last October, the former Minister and Deputy, Mary Coughlan commissioned a value for money exercise in line with normal Government practise. The deadline for submissions for that VFM expired recently, which is the reason for the publicity and attention attaching to them.

I, as Minister for Education and Skills, and the Government, of which I am proud to be a member, have absolutely no viewpoint, position or prejudiced outlook on rural schools. We will simply await the outcome of the value for money exercise and approach its conclusions without prejudice. I know it has been suggested in some quarters that there is some kind of bias but there is none. It is simply a value for money exercise initiated by the previous Administration.

I want to confirm that this Government will not oppose this motion, call for a vote tomorrow or vote against it. In fact, I doubt there is anyone in this Chamber who would disagree that education and training will play a central part in economic recovery and job creation in the years ahead and that education and training should therefore be protected as a priority area for funding in future budgets. The resources that have been put into education in this country over the past number of decades are proof of the importance attached to a having a well educated workforce, which has provided this small country with a very valuable competitive advantage and has played a key role in our economic development.

The big problem, however, is that while there is indeed much more that needs to be done to give us the first class education system that this country, and especially our young people deserve, Ireland has, in blunt terms, been placed into receivership by the previous Fianna Fáil-led Administration. Thanks to economic mismanagement on a grand scale, which has saddled every family and child in Ireland with a significant long-term debt, we are now in the position where much of the money we spend on our public servants and public services comes not from our taxes but from ECB moneys provided to our banking system.

This situation of indebtedness is of course unsustainable, which is why this new national Government has come together with one overriding objective, namely, to regain our economic sovereignty and once again give us control over our own economic destiny, a control where the power to make and take decisions rests with ourselves as the citizens of this Republic.

To regain control of our sovereignty, however, will not be easy. It will take hard work on all of our parts and will require this Government to carry through some difficult decisions that will impact on all of us. Some of these savings decisions have already been incorporated as specific budgetary targets that underpin the agreed EU and IMF programme, compliance with which is currently being monitored by a team of EU and IMF experts who recently arrived in this country.

The Government has effectively had no choice but to sign up to the decisions in the agreement that must be met in 2011 and 2012. These decisions include a number of savings measures across the education sector decided by the previous Government. Some other savings decisions, covering the period 2012-14, have yet to be formulated in order for the overall EU and IMF expenditure reduction targets to be reached. Identifying and securing further savings in the education sector will be a challenge.

Therefore, while as I said I am happy to support this motion, it is important that we acknowledge the gravity of the economic situation that we have inherited and the constraints it places on us. Our hands are to a great extent tied by the rope of indebtedness that the previous Government has woven for us. In spite of the challenging position in which we find ourselves, I believe that the new programme for Government will provide the basis to restore confidence and get our economy moving again.

In regard to education, this Government's ambition in the new programme, which was ratified by the Dáil, is to build a knowledge society and for education to be at the heart of a more cohesive and more equal society and to be the engine of sustainable economic growth. We need to shift the debate from one about inputs to one about outcomes. There is a range of proposals in the programme for Government that seeks to ensure maximum quality outcomes at all levels of the education system.

The programme for Government also contains proposals to resource a jobs fund which will provide additional places in training, work experience and educational opportunities for those who are out of work and to provide a range of initiatives to increase access to further higher level education for the unemployed. Further details regarding the jobs fund will be announced shortly by Government.

Before I refer to some of the specific education and training aims of the new programme for Government, it is important to state that achieving these aims will require us to spend astutely and efficiently and to target our resources in a more effective manner in order that we can achieve the best educational outcomes. While the 2011 expenditure allocation for my Department, at €8.91 billion, is one of the largest across Government, much of this, in fact 77% of current expenditure, goes on pay and pensions. Some 30%, or 103,000, of those employed in the public sector at the end of last year were employed in the education sector. More than 71,000 of these are either teachers or special needs assistants.

Securing further savings in the education sector while endeavouring to protect front line education and training services consequently presents a very significant challenge. The comprehensive spending reviews agreed in principle by Government yesterday will constitute an important mechanism to assist us in preparing the budget for 2012 and for future years. All Departments, including mine, will immediately set about preparing comprehensive expenditure reports by the end of June to identify expenditure programme savings, scope for savings arising from efficiencies and other reforms, proposals for rationalisation of agencies and the scope for further reductions in staffing.

The reviews will be assessed by a steering committee and finalised for presentation to the Government's economic management council in September, feeding into the budget process. For the benefit of the House, I should confirm that the council comprises the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and Deputy Howlin.

It is intended that the reviews will provide the Government with a comprehensive set of decisions which will, among other things, help to do the following - meet the overall fiscal consolidation objectives as set out in the EU and IMF agreement; facilitate the further reductions in public service numbers set out in the programme for Government and which are essential if the public sector pay bill is to be managed; realign spending with priorities in the new programme for Government; and identify new ways of achieving Government objectives in a more efficient way, in effect, doing more with less.

When the review process is completed we should have a clearer picture of the environment in which budgetary decisions for 2012 are to be taken. The process will also include an initiative to allow all stakeholders, including public servants, the social partners, State bodies and the general public to provide a direct input to the review exercise. This is an important and welcome feature of the process.

During the recent general election campaign, the Labour Party promised to prioritise a comprehensive spending review and the new Government has quickly implemented this agreed policy proposal. While this spending review will involve difficult decisions, it will also afford the opportunity to reform the public service to enhance efficiency and eliminate waste. Rather than adopting a piecemeal, cheese-paring approach which results in crude and damaging cuts that damage future growth and public services, as Fianna Fáil did when in office, the new Government will insist on a properly planned multi-annual expenditure strategy.

This motion notes the increases that have taken place in numbers of teachers in schools and improvements in pupil-teacher ratios. As Minister for Finance during the previous rainbow Government I, and many of my colleagues here on the Government benches, worked incredibly hard to ensure Ireland was one of the most competitive economies in the European Union. The economic track record of that Government is worth repeating for the benefit of the House.

We had first planned Government surplus in more than three decades, inflation was kept low and the national debt fell to 63% of GDP. When we left office in 1997, 1,000 new jobs were being created each week in the Irish economy. This prudent management of the economy laid a solid foundation for the improvements in resources to schools that occurred subsequently. Teacher numbers have increased significantly since but sadly through the mismanagement of recent years we are hard pressed to maintain those improvements.

The key drivers of the growth in teacher numbers over recent years include an overall increase of more than 40,000 pupils in our primary schools and the provision of dedicated supports for pupils with special needs. The number of teachers for pupils with special needs has increased from a very low base to a current level of close to 10,000 teachers between both primary and post-primary levels. There have also been improvements in the staffing schedule for allocating teachers to schools. There is now an average of one mainstream classroom teacher for every 28 pupils.

Another improvement is the provision of dedicated supports for pupils with English language needs. Some ten years ago we had about 260 of these language teachers in our schools while today we have more than 1,400 such teachers.

However, as I begin the annual round of conferences in the primary and post-primary school sectors, I need to make clear that we no longer have the capacity, given the current economic and fiscal situation, continually to increase teacher numbers. We have to operate on the basis that we must do more with less.

The Government has decided to adopt the specific budgetary targets under the EU-IMF programme that must be met in 2011. There are specific EU-IMF commitments and targets in 2012 for a reduction in the overall number of public servants on the payroll, including teachers. The importance of meeting the targets cannot be overstated. It is only by meeting those targets that the EU-IMF funding will continue to arrive in this country, to enable us continue to fund services while we make difficult and painful fiscal adjustments.

The task of managing the education budget is complicated by the fact that enrolments will continue to increase over the next few years. Between now and 2016, we are expecting that there will be close to an extra 70,000 pupils in our primary and post-primary schools. While the Government is committed to protecting front line education services to the greatest extent possible, we must not underestimate the challenge in doing so against a background of this level of rising enrolments, with its implications for teacher numbers and increased expenditure on capitation payments and on school building. For example, the expected increase of 57,000 pupils at primary level by 2018 could necessitate the provision of up to 2,050 additional classrooms. Notwithstanding provision for additional posts to meet demographics, the national recovery plan provided for a net reduction in teacher numbers in 2011. The detail on these measures was outlined in the 2011 budget. Given the previous legacy of economic mismanagement and the financial constraints in which this country now finds itself, it is not possible to reverse these changes.

My Department also has to exercise additional control and reporting measures this year to ensure that the number of teachers employed in schools is consistent with the EU-IMF programme of support for Ireland. Flexible redeployment arrangements are required to ensure all surplus permanent teachers are redeployed into vacancies. Given our budgetary situation, we need to have sufficient flexibility in the redeployment arrangements to ensure that surplus teachers in all schools, regardless of patronage type, can be readily redeployed to vacancies wherever they exist. In the public sector context where there is job security, we must be able to maximise effectiveness by redeploying staff. Given the exceptional arrangements applying whereby teacher vacancies are being filled, unlike other areas of the public service, we have a responsibility in this matter. The country simply cannot afford to have surplus teachers in a school while permitting recruitment to take place in another school. My Department will be seeking to recommence discussions with the relevant education partners at primary level, on further changes that will be necessary if we are to achieve our objective of absorbing all surplus teachers into vacancies that exist in other primary schools.

We also have a new cross-sectoral redeployment scheme at post-primary level. The added complexity at post-primary level is the requirement to match surplus teachers with specific qualifications into vacancies in those subject areas. However, we do not have a choice and it is essential that the new redeployment arrangements work well. During my recent visits to the school managers' conferences, I was interested to hear how modern technology is helping to enhance the range of subjects being taught in two separate schools in Ballybunion and Listowel in County Kerry. I want to encourage a greater take up of this type of co-operation as a practical example of how the resources we provide can be used to maximum effect.

Preparatory work will be commencing shortly for the 2012 budget. The EU-IMF agreement and the planning underpinning it recognised the need to make further payroll savings in 2012. There is provision for consultation with the education partners on how best to achieve a further reduction in teacher payroll costs from 2012. Should the consultation process not produce alternative feasible measures to deliver the required savings, the introduction of appropriate increases in the classroom teacher allocation schedules is envisaged. My Department will be inviting the relevant partners to work on identifying measures that can deliver further savings. We need to ensure that any inefficiencies in our systems are eliminated so we minimise the impact on front-line services.

I have described the recent OECD rankings for Ireland as a "wake-up call" for the Irish education system. The programme for Government makes clear our commitment to improving radically the literacy and numeracy standards achieved by our young people. No child should leave an Irish school unable to read and write. This will be one of the major goals of the Government and I am determined that we will address the serious weaknesses in young people's learning that national assessments, inspection reports and international surveys have identified. What we do for early childhood and primary education can have a significant bearing on how successful we will be. This is an issue for second level schools as well. A cultural shift is needed so that all teachers in second level schools, not just those teaching languages or resource teachers, recognise that they can play a constructive role in fostering improvement in literacy levels. This is especially true for geography and history teachers.

The programme for Government commits us to developing and implementing a national literacy and numeracy strategy which will provide a comprehensive set of measures to improve learning outcomes for children and young people. My Department is engaged in a public consultation process on the contents of the strategy. We have received over 460 written submissions and my officials are meeting education partners and interest groups as part of the process. The strategy must provide a comprehensive approach to improvement. Literacy begins in the home. It is not just the responsibility of teachers, but of families and schools working together. That must be part and parcel of our approach to this issue.

I support this Private Members' motion. I think it reflects the will of us as legislators, as citizens and as parents to ensure that the significant investment made in our education and training system is protected so it will continue to play a key part in the personal and professional development of our young people and contribute to economic recovery and job creation in the months and years ahead. However, we must recognise the economic reality arising from decisions of the past, and acknowledge the competing demands for limited resources and the requirement to reduce public sector numbers further. While acknowledging this reality, the Government will seek as far as possible to protect funding for education and training as a priority. I also commend this motion to the House.

8:00 pm

Photo of Fergus O'DowdFergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Cuidím leis an méid a dúirt an t-Aire ar an rún seo. Tá sé an-thábhachtach go mbeadh díospóireacht oscailte againn agus go mbeadh muid in ann anseo ár n-aigne a nochtadh i dtaobh conas mar is féidir oideachas a chur i gceartlár ár bpolasaí, ní amháin i gceartlár na tíre agus na daltaí, ach i dtaobh cúrsaí eacnamaíochta de chomh maith. Is as cúrsaí oideachais is mó a thiocfaidh saol nua agus postanna. Tá sé an-thábhachtach ar fad go mbeadh caighdeán níos airde agus níos fearr, más féidir é a bheith ann agus go mbeadh gach duine ag comhoibriú le chéile, idir an Rialtas, na múinteorí, na politeoirí agus muintir na h-Éireann.

Is áit í seo anois nach rabhamar ríomh inti. Tá an tír in áit uafásach ar fad ó thaobh fostaíochta de. Má tá muid chun rudaí a chur ar bun chun cúrsaí eacnamaíochta a fheabhsú, tá sé in am go mbeadh tuiscint níos fear againn ar cén fáth nach bhfuilimid ag déanamh chomh maith, sa PISA ach go h-áirithe. PISA measures the cognitive skills of our students compared internationally across OECD countries. At the heart of our economic recovery, there must be a better outcome for all of our students as measured internationally by PISA scales and by a radical reform of our education system.

The international literature emphasises the importance of cognitive skills for our 15 and 16 year olds at the end of compulsory education. These skills largely measure the effectiveness of primary and lower secondary levels, and these are the levels that lay important educational foundations.

They largely predict later university entry and success. Comparative national performances in PISA predict later comparative national economic performances. That is a very important point. The better we do on the PISA international measurements the better we will do economically. That is a fundamental issue which we have to address here. The proportion of high achievers in such tests also indicates how well we are going to do. Cognitive skill results outweigh years of schooling as predictors of national economic progress. This is really a key issue.

In the 2009 PISA tests, Ireland exhibited a major absolute and comparative decline in performance over the past decade. A fundamental review and reform of Ireland's primary and lower secondary education is required to raise these skills. This review should affect teacher education, qualifications and professional development and the reform of school organisation and curriculum. If our students are not doing as well as other students internationally of the same age, what do we need to change? What new interventions can we have in education that will assist in bringing forward students who are rightly and properly able to achieve the best they possibly can? Internationally there are many forms of remedial intervention to assist those who may experience difficulties in education. These include preschool and home-school liaison, remedial teaching at primary and second levels, and disadvantaged schools, such as, for example, the DEIS programme. All these are a very substantial help to students in this area.

Higher education institutions run second chance access courses as well. Remedial intervention and its effectiveness has been the subject of much research. Nobel Prize winner, James Heckman, and others state that the earlier the intervention the bigger the social and economic return. This should be a key part of our economic, social and educational policy. By targeting children at preschool level, especially those who come from disadvantaged areas, the incremental gain that can be made from increased investment will make a phenomenal impact on our PISA scales and on the ability of those extremely talented young people who, in many cases, leave school far too early. The literature indicates that it is mainly males who leave school, and that is where a significant reallocation of resources is needed.

There is also the question of male underachievement and lack of participation. The evidence for male comparative underachievement is overwhelming and is seen at all levels in our education system. In the PISA reading tests in 2009, a high proportion of males showed low reading skills. I stand to be corrected, but I believe the figure was something like 21% of males aged 15 or 16 who were not functionally literate. They were not able to read or write in a capacity that would allow them to carry out a normal job in a normal place of employment. That is not peculiar to Ireland and happens in other countries too, but with single-minded focus on this issue we can change how our children do at school and persuade more people, particularly young males, to stay in education. More males than females account for early school leavers. The entry rate for university is 60% female and 40% male. It is also a fact that the prison population largely comprises young illiterate males. Addressing male underachievement successfully promises major social benefits and strong comparative economic advantage, since this is an international phenomenon. Male underachievement is especially strong among males from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

One of the measures in which we are doing very poorly internationally, as the Minister indicated in his speech, is the results for languages, reading English and our capacity to be bilingual or trilingual. Finland, the most successful European country in PISA tests, has a successful policy of promoting trilingualism in its education system. Ireland, with its broad leaving certificate programme, has the potential, with effective language teaching, to confer active multilingualism on its citizens. In the PISA 2009 results Ireland showed a major disimprovement, with a decline which was the largest among the countries that participated in 2000. Ireland has as a major advantage the mastery and creative fluency in use of English. The decline in reading and writing skills as well as the high proportion of young males with low reading skills is not compatible with the exploitation of such an advantage. At leaving certificate level, fewer males than females take languages at higher level. A smaller proportion of these than the female proportion obtain higher grades. Promoting male language achievement must be part of our national language policy.

In the future there will be two other global European languages, Spanish and Portuguese. These will be of major economic and cultural importance. Spanish, although small, is growing in Irish schools. Portuguese, already the sixth global language, attracts few leaving certificate candidates. Schools and universities should have regard to the future importance of these languages. Many of our students attend school until whatever age and learn Irish. In many cases, however, they leave school without a fundamental grasp or speaking knowledge of Irish. I am a total gaelgeoir who spent all my summers in the Gaeltacht since I was very young and am a great supporter of all things Gaelic. However, there is something fundamental at the heart of our language which needs to be changed. One of the problems is that we have to open our minds to how we can improve the knowledge that young people have of Irish, particularly in primary school. I accept and acknowledge the great progress that has been made in our society in terms of the use of Irish in gaelscoileanna. These are very important and fruitful ventures. I would like to see the development of the gaelscoileanna and scoileanna lán-Gaelach after the primary level and believe there is a deficit in that regard. However, fundamental changes have to be made.

If we do this fundamental review and make these changes, as a country Ireland will be able to stand right in the top rank internationally as measured by our PISA score. If we do not do that, we shall never bring out the best in our children. Fundamentally, I would go back to those students who come from socially disadvantaged areas. If we really invest in preschool education, we can make a fundamental change for the benefit of our young people, nationally and internationally.

Photo of Seán CroweSeán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes that:

— Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that education is a basic and fundamental human right; and

— education should be free and universally available as of right and should assist everyone without exception to develop her or his full potential;

further notes that:

— instead of guaranteeing everyone equal access to the highest standard of education, previous Government policy has entrenched educational inequalities and a two tier system;

— current Government policy will perpetuate this same system of educational inequality and disadvantage;

— investment in education in this State has never been at the appropriate level, even during times of economic growth and that the previous Government's agenda of cuts has eroded the education sector;

— the areas of primary education, special educational needs and third level have been particularly hard hit with cuts and charges; and

— the lack of investment in education has a huge impact on low and middle income families;

calls on the Government to:

— reverse the cuts to education and ensure that at least 6% of GDP is ring-fenced for education;

— lift the cap on special needs assistants;

— reject the introduction of third level fees in any guise;

— reverse the recent changes to the qualifying criteria for the non-adjacent rates of the maintenance grants; and

— make education a central tool of economic recovery."

I propose to share my time with Deputies Colreavy and McLellan, with the permission of the House. I have listened to the previous speakers and we in Sinn Féin have moved an amendment to the motion. We believe our amendment is much more comprehensive and reflects the reality of the education system, both past and present. It is visionary in its outlook in that regard. It calls on the Government to reverse the cuts to education and ensure that at least 6% of GDP is ring-fenced for education. The cap should be lifted on special needs assistance and the introduction of third level fees under any guise should be rejected. The amendment calls for a reversal in the recent changes for the qualifying criteria for the non-adjacent rates of maintenance grants and seeks to have education made a central tool of economic recovery.

I listened carefully to some of the speakers. The proposers of the motion talked in terms of the positive things that have emerged from the education system. Many of the positive gains in resources came at a time when the country was supposed to be awash with money. However, it was also a time when the gap between rich and poor in society widened considerably and when many schools and parents had to scrimp and save. Many schools are still in that difficult position.

I listened to the Minister speak about some of the positive aspects of our education system. He said education should be at the heart of a more cohesive and equal society and be the engine of sustainable economic growth. That is a sound principle. However, he also said we needed to shift the debate from being about inputs to being about outcomes. That is grand and while outcomes are important, education is also about inputs. Education should be about outcomes and not incomes, and that is where the difficulty lies. It is about people's income, and this attitude has been perpetuated down the years. If people have a higher income, the chances their children will go on to further education is greater. The difficulty for many parents currently is that if they have more than one child, they must make the choice as to which child will benefit from going on with their education. No family should be put in that position.

The Fianna Fáil motion mentions the significant increases in resources allocated to training over the years. Let us look back at the measures included in last year's budget with regard to education, leaving aside those introduced the previous years which were equally appalling. Last year there was a reduction of 5% in the capitation grants available to schools. This grant covers day to day running costs such as electricity and heat. There was a withdrawal of resource teachers for Travellers and the proposed withdrawal of 500 language support teachers over four years. There was also a hike in the school transport fee and a new fee introduced for primary school students. Rural co-ordinator posts allocated to disadvantaged rural schools were removed and a cap was imposed on the number of special needs assistants. Student registration charges were increased to €2,000 per year, a new €200 charge was imposed for PLC courses and there was a reduction in grant payments of 4%. Inservice budgets were slashed from 2008 onwards and cuts were made to education centre budgets. ICT support teachers were removed and no book grant was provided in 2009. The motion mentions special needs education and gives Fianna Fáil another pat on the back in this regard, but let us take a look at Fianna Fáil's miserable record on special needs education. In 2000, we had the closure of more than 100 special classes in primary schools. Since then, pupils throughout the State have lost special needs assistants, schools have had resources cut and most recently, a cap has been imposed on the recruitment of SNAs.

In response to a recent parliamentary question, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, mentioned special needs. I welcome his commitment to review the arbitrary deadline for awarding SNAs. This deadline makes no sense to schools considering there is no way of knowing how many new entrants will have special needs or how many newly diagnosed children there will be. The Minister must ensure that children with special education needs have access to an SNA based on educational need alone, rather than on how many SNAs the Government is willing to pay.

The Fianna Fáil motion also mentions participation in third level education and notes that this has expanded. That is all very well, but the motion does not mention the total hames the previous Government made of the third level sector. The student registration fee has increased year on year since its inception and has now reached a staggering €2,000 per student per year. This is a scandal. What is even more of a scandal is that the Labour Party, which seemed to be to the fore in voicing its opposition to tuition fees, has been completely silent on the issue since elected to Government. Fees by stealth are still fees. By increasing the registration fee, the Minister is implementing fees through the back door. I urge the Minister to stand by his commitment to oppose the introduction of student fees in any guise.

In recent years those from disadvantaged areas and those on low and middle incomes have been the worst hit by draconian education budgets. Cuts to Traveller education administered by the previous Government and upheld by the current Government are disgraceful. The withdrawal of resource teachers for Travellers will see disadvantaged children further marginalised in the education context. These are the types of issues the new Government and the Minister need to prioritise. They are also examples which demonstrate how austerity measures dictated by the EU and IMF affect people on the ground. We need to make education a tool for recovery and change.

Photo of Michael ColreavyMichael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I wish the Minister for Education and Skills the best. His is probably one of the most important Ministries. Decisions made by the Department over the next five years will shape the future of the nation for the next 50 years and beyond. His portfolio is critically important and I wish him well with it.

I want to zone in on the value for money review of the smaller primary schools currently taking place. I represent Sligo and north Leitrim where there are many small two or three-teacher schools. The pupils, parents, management boards, teachers and wider communities in these areas fear that the value for money review of smaller schools is not a value for money review, but an exercise in discovering how primary education can be provided more cheaply. A value for money review requires that we are able to measure and compare outcomes between the smaller and larger schools. However, I am not aware that any outcome measurements are available or are being used. The INTO maintains that the outcomes from smaller primary schools are at least as good as outcomes from larger schools.

Based on Department figures of the number of smaller schools in the country, the projected savings for each school amalgamated would be approximately €80,000 per annum - €80,000 for what? The result would be higher transport charges, children would spend longer on the school bus morning and evening and children from closed smaller schools would be sent to larger schools which might be already overcrowded and lack adequate facilities.

Sometimes we and the Government seem to forget that we are unlike the rest of Europe, in that we have dispersed settlements. Not all of us live in cities and larger towns and villages. That is part of our heritage and culture and what we are. People in rural areas have witnessed the closure of post offices, Garda stations, pubs and shops. They face difficulty getting planning permission and their football clubs have been weakened through emigration. Such issues have worsened and accelerated over the past decade. Now these people face the threat of closure of smaller primary schools.

Seldom does one hear somebody from the Opposition praise a Minister or Minister of State. However, I will do so. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy John Perry, on the unequivocal undertaking he gave at a public meeting in Sligo last night that no smaller school in Sligo or Leitrim would be closed on his watch. I appreciate his clarity on this. I ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide similar clarity for smaller primary schools State-wide.

Photo of Sandra McLellanSandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Sinn Féin opposes the Fianna Fáil Private Members' motion and I urge Members of the House to support our amendment. We take issue with the spin used in the first part of the motion and what could only be described as the wholly unwarranted self-congratulatory tone used by Fianna Fáil throughout the text. This motion must go much further if we are to truly stand up for educational rights in this State.

Education in Ireland is now a commodity. Taxpayers are expected to pay the wages of teachers in private schools while their own children go to school in mouldy prefabs. The child from a privileged background can afford extra tuition while children with special needs go without appropriate supports. Special needs assistants are paid just over the minimum wage and yet they are the ones losing their jobs. Why does the Government not stop paying the salaries of teachers in private schools? It is nothing short of a scandal that Fianna Fáil and the Green Party engaged in a full-blown attack on education services by cutting capital funding, increasing the pupil-teacher ratio, cutting funds for special needs and education disadvantage, and administering a comically inadequate back-to-school allowance. Fine Gael and Labour are now quite happy to continue this.

The Fianna Fáil Private Members' motion notes the expansion in third level participation. While we welcome this, it was its budget that made changes to the grant system that increased the qualifying distance for the non-adjacent grant from 24 km to 45 km. While we would call for a complete overhaul of the grant system so that grant rates reflect the true costs of going to college, the original qualifying criteria must be restored as an interim measure.

The Fine Gael-Labour programme for Government was full of well-meaning platitudes about education. Buzz words such as "radical", "reform" and "equality" are featured prominently. These buzzwords mean nothing to the young people from places such as Balbriggan who cannot afford to move out of their homes and must sit on buses for almost four hours a day commuting to and from UCD because the meagre grant they receive barely allows them to buy books let alone move to be near their college. Those four hours could be spent studying.

Once again, as we saw with the universal social charge, there is no equality of outcome here. Those who receive third level grants are already on the lower end of the income scale. Clearly ensuring equality in education is not a priority for Fine Gael or Labour. Have they taken the view that the working poor, the low income families who are scrimping and saving to feed and educate their children, can sustain this? Why have low-income people become the Government's financial punch bag? This increase in the qualifying distance for the non-adjacent grant was a cruel measure initiated by Fianna Fáil and carried on by Fine Gael and Labour. Simply because the criteria moved by 20 km on a particular day it does not mean that young people in receipt of those grants have any more money than they did before it was moved. All it means is that those young people who are only barely managing financially when it comes to going to third-level education will find it even harder.

The Government knows the furore that will ensue if they introduce third level fees - which is most definitely on the cards - so it is doing it by stealth. It is attempting to make it so difficult for low-income young people to attend third level that eventually they will just drop out or not even apply in the first place. Constructive dismissal has now reached the classrooms of our universities.

Sinn Féin will not support this motion and will call on Members to support our amendment. Fianna Fáil Members have hard necks laying this motion before the House. One thing is certain. If they had as hard a neck with the IMF as they did with the ordinary working person in this State, we would all be considerably better off.

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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I wish to share time with Deputy Mattie McGrath.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Photo of Catherine MurphyCatherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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We all agree that we need to continue our investment in education. I would have liked to have seen the issue of pre-school education addressed in the motion because that type of investment brings great returns. Primary principals to whom I have spoken have commented positively about the investment in that it has made pupils' in junior infants classes more uniform in their readiness for school. Prior to this the children, whose parents could afford to send them to pre-school, might have stood out. Even at this early stage it has shown a definite return and it is important that this investment is protected.

The motion refers to the pupil-teacher ratio. While the ratio may apply nationally, class sizes differ considerably depending on the part of the country. I have no difficulty with positive discrimination favouring areas that are subject to social deprivation, but I have difficulty with an unfair distribution of resources. Kildare North and other areas that have grown rapidly in recent years tend to have much larger class sizes which impacts on the ability of the teacher to deliver a more interactive learning. Unfortunately class sizes of well in excess of 30 are not unusual. Particular problems arise when there are one or more children with special needs and perhaps one or more SNAs. The physical size of the classroom can be an issue. Teachers have told me they often feel they are dealing with crowd control. It is essential that there is fair play. It did not occur in the good times under the previous Administration and I am asking that this Government should pay attention to fair play.

I acknowledge the increase in SNAs. However, prior to this change we must remember that children with special needs were often educated in special schools. It is far more common for these children to be educated in mainstream schools now with the assistance of SNAs who often assist in individual education plans. We know those numbers are capped and while it often takes months to get an SNA appointed for a child, it only takes minutes to have the SNA removed, which is a retrograde step.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I was pleased to hear the Minister and the Minister of State say earlier that they will try to maintain funding to the education sector to the best of their ability. We have made great progress in the past decade in many aspects of education, including the secondary school DEIS programme, special needs assistants at all levels, second chance education and the area of crèches and the naíonraí. In many cases where we had naíonraí and playschools, they were set up by voluntary groups and occasionally a limited company gave guarantees. They were often set up by one person using his or her own intuition, who worked very hard at it. While crèches and child-care facilities got funding in recent times under the different programmes, they still need to be supported. I welcome the subvention that is available this year. They need to be supported and we need children to get in there. As other speakers have said, children who have had pre-school education are more capable and ready to go into primary school. While we have made progress in many areas we need to continue the investment. We will be watching the Minister to ensure he treats all sectors fairly.

For job creation and economic recovery, it is vital to have people upskilled and reskilled so that they will be ready and able to take up the challenges to get us out of the situation in which we find ourselves at present. I would caution two areas. First is the so-called value for money audit on smaller schools, including two-classroom schools. These form the bedrock of society in many areas. So many times in the past it has been proved that big is not greater than everything else and there is an important close-knit relationship with the community in those areas. I ask the Government to be very careful in that regard and not to do anything rash.

The VEC sector was threatened with reorganisation by the previous Minister. The VECs have served our country very well and in the fullness of time will stand up to any scrutiny. In many areas of education and especially in adult education the VEC sector was the only sector delivering adult education programmes before it was fashionable or even desired. As a member of a VEC and chair of its adult education board for many years, I saw at first hand the valuable work and the many voluntary tutors that were there. There was a plethora of education offerings and VECs are willing to expand into national schools and other areas including linking to third level. I would not like to see the axe wielded there too willingly and I would appeal to the Minister to be prudent.

Photo of Michael KittMichael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I am sorry but I will have to wield the axe.

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I appreciate that. I heard you had a big one, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.