An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Paul Nicholas Gogarty (IND), Dublin Mid-West

The Taoiseach will well know from his earlier stint that investment in early years education is hugely important and also has a net economic benefit. We have seen recent reports stating reading and mathematical results for Ireland have gone down. Maybe we are still higher than a lot of countries but it is no consolation that if everyone is getting dumber, we are getting less dumb. The reality is there is a whole load of impacts there. In many developing areas, class sizes are still increasing, and some more settled areas that are down one or two pupils suddenly lose a teacher. Have there been serious discussions in the context of the upcoming budget on investment in education and trying to bring class sizes down? It is hugely important, especially with that literacy and numeracy element.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29