Speaking in the Dáil today, Deputy Joan Burton highlighted the imminent consequences of the Government’s broken promises on class sizes. St. Francis Xavier School in Roselawn is threatened with the loss of up to two teachers from next September due to Government cut-backs and red-tape.

“Just two weeks ago the ESRI published a report that the future our economic wellbeing will depend more than anything else on our investment in education, so that we become a knowledge economy. In the future, rather than selling our manual labour, we will actually be selling our brain power.

“It is extraordinary that the Minister for Education and a FF/Green Government should be stymieing children around the country from enjoying a quality learning environment. Children are entitled to learn in classes of reasonable size, and in classrooms that are orderly, unstressed and un-crowded.

“Because FF have reneged on their promise to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio to 27 pupils to 1 teacher in each class, next September 28 schools right around the country will loose one or more teachers.

“I want to speak about two schools on this list, one urban and one rural:

“St. Francis Xavier School in Roselawn, Castleknock, in Dublin 15 is threatened with the loss of one to two teachers next September. This school is both successful and popular. More than 25% of the pupils are international students, many with specific English language coaching requirements.

“In the Junior School, from which the Senior School pupils are recruited, the proportion of international students is even higher. This school is now faced with the loss of two teachers,. Had the Minister for Education and Fianna Fáil in Government honoured their promises to cut class sizes, they would not be loosing staff.

“Because of the number of international students, there are a number of additional posts in the school, particularly in relation to language and resource teaching. The school is one hour short of the 22 hours required for a learning resource teacher.

“But bureaucratic bungling and red tape between the HSE and the Department of Education means the school cannot get the approved extra hour.

“This problem is not exclusive to our cities. Scoil Naomh Pádraig in Ballymurphy in Co. Carlow is a rural school which expects to take in 11 extra pupils next September. It too is facing the loss of its third teacher because of the Minister’s u-turn on class sizes.

“Both of these schools expect a significant expansion in pupil intake for next September, yet they will be penalised with respect to last September’s figures. This is no way to plan the educational future of our future of our children.

These are just two of the 28 schools with similar stories. This is no way to plan schooling in urban areas. This is no way to support rural schools.”