Seanad debates

Wednesday, 4 June 2008

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I ask that the Leader organise for the Minister for Education and Science to come to the House. I agree with previous speakers on this issue. There is a crisis in education and people need to realise this. It is not just in the area of school buildings but also in class sizes and in the broken promises made by the Government prior to the election. Our children are being left to suffer. Recent statistics from the Department of Education and Science were given in a reply to a parliamentary question tabled by my colleagues showing that one in every three schools in this State has applied to the schools building programme but there has not been any announcement of schools being built since the start of this year. Many students who are sitting the leaving certificate examination today have been in temporary accommodation since they entered education at the age or four or five. This is not acceptable. Promises regarding class sizes, capitation grants and private ones made by Ministers and Deputies — the nods and winks in their constituencies that new schools would be built after the general election — were reneged on by this Government and this Taoiseach.

The most significant promise waiting to be broken is that made by Deputy Brian Cowen, to the IFA at the weekend that he will veto any outcome of the WTO talks if the Lisbon treaty referendum is passed. Will the Leader seek clarification on this matter because that veto will not exist for the Government or the Taoiseach?

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