INTO: We must ensure our children get good start

Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) president John Carr has demanded a meeting with the Department of Education to discuss the issue of class size.

Minister for Education Mary Hanafin admitted yesterday that the target of reducing class sizes to 20 for pupils under nine years old would not be achieved in the lifetime of the present administration.

Mr Carr said: "We have the second-largest classes in Europe. We're way out of line with the rest of Europe and if we're going to compete in terms of literacy and numeracy, we've got to ensure that children get a proper and a good start.

"We want to work with the Government to ensure that all our children are in small classes where they can get individual attention and where they can compete with their colleagues on a European stage."