Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

I do not wish to engage in an argument with the Senator.

I refer to one service as a type of yardstick for the manner in which part of the considerable bundle of money available to the public is targeted, that is, the welfare of our children and the opportunities they get through education. There is no doubt from the substantial increase in money being given to, and the emphasis on, education that we are giving priority to our children and the opportunities they should get. We have seen the largest ever increase in capitation funding for our schools. It has increased by €18 per pupil, the largest increase in the history of the State. It means heating, lighting and insurance costs, which seem trivial but which are very important to schools and can impose a burden on principals and staff, are adequately covered. The considerable increases the Minister has secured this year to fund those items will lessen the burden on principals and staff and enable them to concentrate on their educational and pedagogic duties. This year primary schools will receive more than €163 for every pupil attending while secondary schools will receive approximately €316 per student. As I said, this is the largest capitation increase in the history of the State.

One of the major issues in public debate recently has been class size. Pupil-teacher ratio is no longer the criterion because it has been greatly reduced in recent years by the phenomenal number of additional staff brought into schools, more than 11,000 in the last eight or nine years. However no Member of either House would disagree that class size has rightly become an issue. I am glad to see an extra 800 teachers are being assigned to reduce class sizes further this year and to support children whose first language is not English. This brings the number of new teachers in schools since 2005 to 1,900. I have always said education must be about making the world better for all children and not just those who can afford an elite education. This issue arose in the House last week. Our education system should give that assurance for future generations.

The most vulnerable who need most help are children with special educational needs, the disadvantaged and those who missed out on first chance education through no fault of their own. I welcome the decision to increase funding on special education to more than €820 million, including covering the cost of almost 8,000 special needs assistants who the Government are rightly targeting as a priority for those most in need. The special needs assistants give essential back-up and support to special needs children. Their rights have been enshrined in law, extra money has been directed at special education and over recent years there has been a phenomenal aggregate increase in the way special education is funded.