Seanad debates

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

10:30 am

Photo of Fintan WarfieldFintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This was our chance to deal with class sizes. One in five primary school children are in a class of more than 30 pupils. We have the largest primary school class sizes in Europe and the Government seems to believe it is a good idea to keep it that way. If there was ever a time to reduce class sizes, this is it. Sinn Féin will use our Private Members' time in the Dáil tomorrow to call on the Government to reduce them immediately and drastically. I ask all parties that have expressed concern about the roadmap and will express concern when we get around its opposition in this House to support the Sinn Féin motion in the Dáil tomorrow.

Diagrams in the roadmap point to classrooms of 80 sq. m and 60 sq. m, but as has been mentioned, that does not reflect the reality of many classrooms, particularly in older schools with rooms much smaller than that. This was a time for the Government to make a significant effort and show that children and their future are important. The roadmap has come late in the day and, worryingly, still has omissions. I see nothing in it about helping those at risk of becoming disengaged from the system. There is no increased funding for home-school liaisons or school completion programmes. If those who have been disengaged since the lockdown are over 16 years of age, they may never return to education.

There remains a great deal of detail to be worked out. As such, why is the joint Oireachtas committee on education not sitting through the recess? All of these questions need to be answered and solutions need to be teased out. For example, parents do not know whether to buy school transport tickets. They are being encouraged to buy them early, but their tickets might never be used at all. The roadmap was meant to clear up such issues. There is limited detail on special educational needs, and I am concerned that special education teachers will be pulled from pillar to post to cover remote learning, absences, breaks and so on and that special educational provision will suffer. There needed to be a dedicated strategy.I have pointed out where this roadmap is lacking. We need to see now how this will be implemented. Has there been an audit on school building needs? How many extra staff will be recruited and how will vulnerable children be protected? What is the plan for school transport?

On the leaving certificate, what will be the position for students applying for colleges overseas or in the North?

I want it noted that if Fine Gael had done anything about the housing crisis, there may have been more teachers in this country and if pay parity had been delivered to younger teachers, there may have been more teachers in this country. There is pay parity for so-called super junior Ministers but not for teachers.

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