THE Minister for Education has been accused of alienating everybody and provoking the threat of strike action in primary schools in September.
"By announcing her decision on pupil teacher ratios while in the middle of negotiations with the INTO, the Minister has effectively sidelined these negotiations," the Progressive Democrats spokeswoman on education, Ms Helen Keogh, said yesterday.
Claiming that Ms Breathnach was "chronically" ignoring the primary school sector, she added that the Government spent £27 a week on each primary school pupil in the State last year.
This compared to the £42 per week spent on second level students and £105 per week on third level students.
"Surely this flies in the face of all logic. Countless studies and all expertise in the area show that it is in the very early years of education - the years spent in primary school - that a child's future is determined," Ms Keogh said.