The Government's pledge to cut primary school class sizes to 20 by 2007 will not be met, the Minister for Education and Science, Ms Mary Hanafin, has conceded.
In the 2002 Programme for Government, Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats said the target would be reached "progressively" over the following five-year period.
Describing the commitment yesterday as "a noble aspiration", the Minister said: "I do not think that it is going to be possible."
Instead, the newly appointed Minister said she would be focusing resources to cope with disadvantaged pupils with serious reading problems.
"Anyone would accept that extra resources should be going to those children, those schools, those teachers, those parents to enable them to grow," she told TV3's Political Partyprogramme.