Education: The Green Party has said that it would provide an additional €1 billion for the education sector in its first year in government, if elected.
The party's education spokesman, Paul Gogarty, told the party's annual convention that it would also examine the possibility of providing a further €9 billion in extra funding to education over a 10-year period.
He said that the party would draw up a 10-year priority funding plan for education within six months of being elected to office and would also commission a full cost-benefit analysis to see whether the increased funding would pay for itself in the long term through increased income tax revenue, reduced social welfare and other advantages.
"It makes clear economic as well as social sense," he said.
The party had already launched a website, 50 Steps to Better Education, which Mr Gogarty said would outline a series of proposals aimed at improving the education system.
They would be "sensible policies that make real differences to people's lives". Mr Gogarty added: "We want our children to be equipped for a changing future."
The party's Dublin West candidate, Roderic O'Gorman, said that the education policy would have to tackle the "staggering gaps in participation rates" in third-level education between different areas.
"If we want a world-class education system, we have to be willing to pay for it," he said.
Green Party candidate for Cork East Sarah Iremonger said that her experience of having been a dyslexic while going through the Irish education system was a "horrendous" one. The lack of proper resources for people with such difficulties still existed in Irish education, she said.