‘State funds for childcare could be used to reduce class sizes’

THE state money given to parents for childcare costs could be used more effectively to help reduce infant class sizes, principals have suggested.

An estimated 75% of about 60,000 children beginning primary school next September will be aged under five-and-a-half, meaning they still qualify for the annual €1,000 state childcare supplement.

Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) president Larry Fleming said schools appreciate that the class size increases being forced on them can not be reversed in the next few years. Instead, however, he suggested that money needs to be found elsewhere in a way which does not require increased Government spending.