Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. What we are doing is most important. The research indicates that these are really important years in a student's life. Professor James Heckman won the Nobel prize for his work in this area. I wish the Minister good luck and more power to her in addressing this issue. This could be the era of people's lives in which they will learn fastest and do the most valuable work. Perhaps we should go right to the very other end of this spectrum and reduce post-doctoral places as there might be a bigger return if Professor Heckman is correct.

Given the difficulties we face, as we are still borrowing €8 billion every year, and we have all come here in the past three or four years to try to do something about that, and I hope signs are getting better, there were reforms in the McCarthy report which would free up some of the funds required for today's purpose. There is more than incrementalism involved. When we start a new programme, we should consider all the others and see if there are any returns or programmes which have outlived usefulness. There were some suggestions from an bord snip nua, such as 36 management allowances which cost €236 million per year and which seemed to grow out of a period of social partnership when, to try to conceal the overall rate of pay increase, people were given allowances. A massive number of allowances are paid and these are covered in the McCarthy report.

The growth in the number of special needs assistants is particularly relevant. McCarthy points out that between 2005 and 2009, the numbers grew from 6,000 to 10,500. Was that properly analysed? He thinks not and that there is a surplus of approximately 2,000 assistants. Did we analyse the opportunity cost of that compared with what we are discussing? There is not much difference in the ages of some of the children, so would they be better served by the programme we are discussing or within the formal school system? It was a vast growth in numbers and I was certainly surprised to see there were 10,500 special needs assistants. It seemed to have grown like Topsy. There was also €300 million for substitution, etc.

How do teachers relate to these children and this vital area which we are discussing? I have to say I think it is badly. We had debates about where teacher training should take place, and this was largely between institutions, with very little emphasis on children, certainly on small children. I overheard some comment to the effect: "who wants teacher training anyway", and that we can do something much more prestigious in - insert the name of the university concerned. This is the most important area. I have felt for a long time that maths teachers should be trained in mathematics departments with everybody else and not siphoned off into lower grades of courses. This is the most important task they will face, and it is much more important that we do that than training people to become bankers or stockbrokers subsequently and proceed to do serious damage to the country. This is important but I do not see the university heads addressing it. Many of the people in the departments I mentioned were not very interested in the importance of Heckman's work. Maths departments should have a cohort of people doing this work, because that is where we will get our next generation of geniuses in that kind of subject.

I know the next matter is close to the Minister's heart. We have been too financially based in our approach to language departments. We have reduced or shut down more language departments in Irish universities in recent years and put them under serious pressure. That is important because the research material provided to us indicates that children at a young age learn languages really well and quickly. Is Ireland just to speak English, our own language, and no other world language? I know and the Minister will know from her time with us that people in language departments feel under increasing pressure because such departments do not cause economic growth and are therefore a peripheral concern. They cost rather little to run, however, and make a significant contribution to the attractiveness of our country.

We cannot just find the money to do this. With the best will in the world, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, does not have it, so all budgets within education should be assessed, as Mr. McCarthy did in 2009, and we must see if this matter under discussion is a stronger and greater priority. I believe it is and that it is well worth the investment. I ask students who their best teacher was or who the teacher was they remember most, and it is usually somebody from preschool or primary school. Inspiring teachers seem to be encountered mostly when children are young, and that inspires people to carry on with their careers.

Within education, while I mentioned the allowances, we must emphasise the classroom. That is where the important work is done. I know people want posts of responsibility, fancy titles and so on. It is said that every day a Kerry person spends away from Kerry is wasted, but every day and hour a teacher spends away from the classroom is really a waste. We have made the process too bureaucratic recently. Let us go back to the basic relationship between the teacher and student. The classroom is probably one of the most rewarding places where that relationship will manifest itself. I wish the Minister good luck in her efforts and she knows she has support from these benches.