The best start for our children

Speaking after the County Wexford launch of the Sinn Féin manifesto in Gorey yesterday, the county's Sinn Féin candidate outlined his partys plan for reforming the Irish education system.  Cllr Anthony Kelly stressed that producing a fairer, more efficient education system was an essential ingredient to making a sustainable economy for the Ireland of tomorrow.

Cllr Kelly said;

"Under Fianna Fail, we have seen growing parental contributions and other costs imposed upon families which have completely undermined the idea of free education. We  have seen our children learning in cold prefab buildings because the government has said that there is no funding available to build new schools. Yet it had funding to spend €24 million a year renting these prefab huts.  Under this regime, we have seen it become more and more difficult for families to be able to afford to send their sons and daughters to third level institutions. How can we build the fabled smart economy if half the population are priced out of the eduction system?"

"Every parent aspires to the best start for their child. So does my party. Sinn Féin believes that free primary, secondary and third-level education is a necessity towards building a stronger republic. We believe that schools should not be reliant on voluntary contributions from parents and that capitation grants should be raised to cover the real cost of running a school. We believe that the cost of sitting the Junior and Leaving Cert exams should be abolished, and that a book lending scheme should be established across all primary and secondary schools. We also believe that a minimum of 150 school building projects should enter the planning stage each year."

"Sinn Féin firmly believes that special needs assistants are an essential part of the Irish education system, and that funding for them must be restored immediately. We believe that class sizes must be reduced to twenty to benefit students, and that five hundred new teaching posts should be created to adequately improve the system. The reintroduction of third level fees through any guise must be opposed at all costs. Sinn Féin believes that these steps are essential, and I intend to fight for their implementation when elected to Leinster House."