Rt. Rev. Dr. Paul Colton:

Knowing I was coming here today, I contacted all the schools under my patronage. I have about 24 years involvement in school management, the last 15 years as a school patron. County Cork is a pretty good example of what is happening to minority faith schools around the country. I contacted the schools there, about 70% of which replied. In short, the collective effect of the cutbacks in a number of areas is immense and it has induced despair and a lot of insecurity about the future, certainly in my type of school. That is not just in rural areas but in the small city centre schools as well.

The Deputy asked about the practical impacts. The things about which I am being told are the heating being turned off, including during the winter, parents providing personal toiletries, reduction in working materials available to children, a ban on colour photocopying, cutbacks in teacher and board of management training and reduction in the amount of cleaning in schools, all to save money. Those were the things reported to me in recent days.

The capitation to the smallest school in the diocese, by virtue of its enrolment and the demographic change, has been reduced in recent years from €43,817 to €24,000. That gives the Deputy an idea of the scale. Water costs have been added so, in general terms, the effects have been immense and, quite simply, the schools cannot operate without fund-raising or without voluntary contributions. They are saying they are under pressure to increase pressure in regard to voluntary contributions.

All of the schools have suffered reductions. At the end of the last academic year, one of my schools was operating at a deficit while at the end of this academic year, five schools are operating at a deficit. Every single one of my schools is saying that without the support of parents and without voluntary contributions, they would all be in deficit on a scale ranging from €3,000 per year to €16,000 per year. That is very significant. They all point to the cessation of the minor works grant as the single biggest issue affecting repairs, which are being done voluntarily or not at all.

It is the contention of the General Synod board of education that although this is an unintended consequence of the cuts, it is a consequence none the less and that, effectively, some of these will undermine our involvement, as a group, in education the not too distant future. I point to the fact that traditionally in many areas, we cater for a large number of communities and a great diversity. I will conclude by pointing to the fact that one of my schools, which caters for 17 different nationalities in an enrolment of 52 pupils, has been unable to secure its English language support.