Figurs highlighted this week have revealed that 13,150 pupils in Cork are currently in classes with more than 30 students. These figures were revealed to Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer on foot of a recent parliamentary question and paint a startling picture of the shape of Irish classrooms prior to the proposed cuts in Budget 2009.

Senator Buttimer said the figures paint a "bleak" picture considering the fact that these look at classroom numbers before any upcoming cuts. "Children in schools across Cork are paying the price for 10 years of Fianna Fáil incompetence with 13,150 stuck in overcrowded classrooms with 30 pupils or more.

"We all remember attending packed meetings before the last election where Fianna Fáil promised that class sizes would be reduced. Their betrayal is now complete as this Government information, obtained by Fine Gael, clearly shows," he said.

In the same week that Senator Buttimer issued his statement, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe strongly criticised the data on classroom figures coming from Fine Gael.

"Fine Gael continues to irresponsibly alarm parents across Ireland in its latest statement on class size that is based on weeks-old information already in the public domain," he said.

He commented, "As international studies reveal, it is the quality of the teacher - not the size of the class - that largely determines education outcomes".

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