Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the extra expenditure on education announced in the budget yesterday, which will only just meet the extra demand on our education services. It will not improve the quality of education being provided to young people. The numbers attending primary and secondary education next year will grow by up to 12,000, and the extra 2,400 teachers will not impact the pupil-teacher ratio but will rather just meet the demand of those 12,000 extra pupils.

Irish classes are the most overcrowded in the European Union with a ratio, on average, of 25:1 in a class on a good day. Last week, I raised in the Seanad the issue of a DEIS school in my area which has a pupil-teacher ratio of 30:1. I ask that the Minister would re-examine the way the criteria for DEIS schools are implemented. That was not raised in the budget yesterday and it is an issue we need to tackle, especially in light of the commitment to provide extra gardaí and the extra expenditure on education. Unless the educational needs of people living in disadvantaged areas are addressed, we will not see any improvement in terms of giving children every opportunity. It is incumbent on us to make that investment in children's education and not do nothing. The announcement in the budget yesterday only just meets the demand in terms of the 12,000 additional pupils. We need to go over and above that to ensure we give children the best education possible to allow them take up foreign direct investment jobs in the future. We want to give them the best in life.

People cannot get their teeth cleaned if they have a medical card. This is Mental Health Week, and getting one's teeth cleaned not only goes some way towards ensuring mouth cancer and other diseases are identified at an early stage but also to improving one's self-esteem. I ask the Leader to ask the Minister for Health to look into that issue. Up until 2008, one could get one's teeth cleaned twice a year. There is not much incentive to go to the dentist for a regular check-up. However, it might be an incentive for people to go to have their teeth cleaned, which would ensure their oral health is maintained. It would save the Exchequer in the long term because mouth cancer and other diseases can be identified at an early stage.