Spending on education became a key election battleground yesterday as the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, unveiled a range of new commitments and the Opposition accused her of unrealistic "auction politics".
In a surprise move, the Minister unveiled a new commitment to double the main State support for each primary pupil - the capitation grant - within the lifetime of the next government.
Expanding on a promise first made by the Taoiseach in his ardfheis speech, she also gave details of how the recruitment of 4,000 extra primary teachers would help to reduce class size. She was addressing more than 700 delegates at the INTO annual conference in Cork.
Labour's education spokeswoman Jan O' Sullivan said she had clearly panicked into committing to unrealistic promises ahead of the general election.
She said the new promise of maximum class sizes of 24 pupils within three years was a "totally unrealisable commitment given the Government's failure to live up to its own promises on reducing class sizes over the last five years".
Fine Gael's Olwyn Enright also went on the offensive saying "the Minister and Fianna Fáil cannot be believed on this issue. Their 2002 commitment on class sizes was watered down by Minister Mary Hanafin to a 'noble aspiration'. What evidence do we have that the same will now happen post-election 2007"?
The 2002 Programme for Government promised to reduce class size to 20 or under for the under nines by 2007. Until last month, the Minister maintained this was not possible because of new demands from special needs and newcomer children. But the Taoiseach's announcement of 4,000 extra teachers is seen across the sector as a major U-turn.
It is known that the Government was taken aback by the success of the INTO's winter campaign on class size which attracted over 18,000 parents and teachers to public meetings.
Yesterday, Ms Hanafin said average class sizes of 24 in primary schools was now a prospect by 2010 because of the Government's commitment to recruit new teachers.
With class size in the Republic well above the EU average, the issue is firmly on the election agenda. The Labour Party is committed to reducing average primary class sizes to a 20:1 ratio while Sinn Féin, the Greens and the Independents have also made specific commitments on the issue. Fine Gael will consider the issue in the context of a promised €100 million Fund for Excellence in Education.
The doubling in the capitation grant to €327 per pupil comes after complaints from schools that they cannot meet basic running costs.
Welcoming the move, the INTO said the increased capitation could transform Irish primary education and, at least, lessen the overall dependence on fund-raising events.
Ms Hanafin, widely believed to be in her last round of teachers conferences, was warmly received by delegates at both the INTO and ASTI conferences yesterday.
She is due to address the TUI conference later today.
But she took issue with the unanimous decision of ASTI delegates to back a renegotiation of the Towards 2016 pay deal which delivered a 10 per cent pay increase over 27 months. There was no prospect, she said, that the Government would even countenance such a move. Pay and related matters were an issue for the benchmarking body which will report later this year, she said.
In a joint submission, the three teacher unions have sought a 10 per cent increase and a range of other benefits from the benchmarking body. Teachers secured a 13 per cent pay increase in the last round of benchmarking.
ASTI delegates backed the renegotiation of the deal because of the renewed inflationary pressures in the economy.