Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for attending the House. He is the fall guy for the Government, having been rolled out to deal with the medical cards and now he appears here. For the past two weeks, I have requested that the Minister for Education and Science address this issue in the House. It is appalling that he has taken time from pupil-teacher contacts by increasing class sizes.

I am proud of the Labour Party for tabling this Private Members' motion and I will gladly support it. I will focus on the lack of appropriate classroom therapists to support children's education needs, the failure to implement the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act and the effect of class size increases. I will do my best in the time allotted to me.

Having listened to the Senator across the floor, he is out of touch with reality in the classroom. He is able to commend the Government on everything it claims it is doing, but the reality is different. The Green Party must be decried for its hypocrisy. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Education and Science alongside Deputy Gogarty. Prior to the last general election, I read the Green Party's manifesto, which referred to reducing class sizes. We will see how the Green Party Members vote in this House and the Lower House and whether they will put their money where their mouths are.

There are major failings and collapses in the education of children with special educational needs due to the unavailability of speech therapists, occupational therapists and psychologists to work with teachers and children in schools. Therapists are supposed to be supplied by the local HSE children's team. Before I give Fianna Fáil my practical examples, I welcome the teachers from Galway city in the Gallery.