Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)

I too welcome Martin Hughes and wish him well in his role. I also wish Bridget Doody a long and happy retirement.

Over the last month, I have been inundated with emails from parents, teachers and principals of schools in Cavan-Monaghan. They are all saying the same thing, which is that our education system is under severe strain. Ireland now has the largest class sizes in the EU. The average primary class here has 22.5 pupils, which can be compared with the EU average of 19. I have spoken to parents whose children are sitting in classes of nearly 30 pupils. No teacher, no matter how dedicated or skilled, can give each child the attention he or she deserves in those conditions. Last year, there were 40,000 primary school children in supersized classes of 30 or more. This is holding students back and children with additional needs are missing out on the support they need to progress. It is concerning that, when we are seeing such pressure on schools, the Government is issuing warnings to the Department of children and the Department of education to cut their overspends. The Department is being told to cut overspend but this overspend is definitely not being seen in the lived experience of teachers and students. There are real gaps in funding and the gap is paid by parents, who are asked to voluntarily contribute to keep the lights on, and by teachers, who are digging into their own pockets to buy classroom materials. What the Government seems to forget is that, while it operates at a snail's pace, our children are growing up. They are moving from first class to second class to third class and all the while they are waiting for additional support that is constantly pushed back. We hear promises of new classrooms moved from the first quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2025.It is simply not good enough. I have submitted a Commencement matter on the issue of Bailieborough Community School as we are five years out since funding was announced for a new build and there is still no progress. The INTO’s prebudget submission is not radical; it is basic common sense. We need to reduce class sizes, properly fund special education, invest in school buildings and ensure fair pay to keep talented teachers in the classroom. Every single euro we invest in our young people is quite literally an investment in Ireland’s future.