Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim leis an moladh atá curtha os comhair an tSeanaid ag an Seanadóir Fidelma Healy Eames i dtaca le scoileanna beaga ar na hoileáin amuigh ón chósta. Tá 13 scoil i gceist, ocht cinn acu a bhfuil dhá mhúinteoir ann agus cúig cinn acu nach bhfuil ach múinteoir amháin ann, scoil náisiúnta Inis Meáin a rinne an Seanadóir Fidelma Healy Eames tagairt di ina measc.

I fully support the amendment to the Order of Business tabled by Senator Healy Eames relating to small island schools. There are only 13 of these schools on our offshore islands. In the Gaeltacht areas eight have two teachers but five have only one teacher. From the points of view of health and safety, child protection, teachers' employment and educational outcomes those kids are not being given an equal opportunity. The scoil náisiúnta on Inis Meáin is in Senator Healy Eames's constituency and the scoil náisiúnta Cholmcille, Oileán Toraigh in my constituency, is in the same predicament with only one teacher and ten pupils. This is totally unacceptable. The cost of employing an additional new teacher is in the region of €30,000. The school in Inis Meáin has a resource teacher working approximately five hours a week which, when added to transportation costs, comes to €15,000 per year so it is a minimal cost to the Department of Education and Skills. The employment budget of the overall Department of Education budget of €11 billion is in the region of €7.5 billion. Surely we can find an additional €15,000 for these small schools on Inis Meáin and Toraigh to give our kids the same opportunity. Ireland is assessed internationally by the OECD on the outcome relating to kids at primary and post-primary levels but we are not giving the same opportunity to small island children and that is not fair. I hope the Leader will accept this amendment and will compel the Minister for Education and Skills to come to the House to talk about this very important issue before the schools start back again in September.