Labour accuses Hanafin of hiding class-size statistics

LABOUR has accused Education Minister Mary Hanafin of withholding statistics that would highlight the Government’s broken promises on class sizes.

In its 2002 programme for government, the Fianna Fáil-PD coalition promised to reduce the average size of classes for children under nine to “below the international best-practice guideline of 20/1” within its five-year term. But just two years later, Ms Hanafin conceded that the target would not be met.

Shortly before Easter, Labour tabled a question in the Dáil seeking to identify the scale of the problem.