Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

In 2009, taking account of the measures announced in the budget, the net pay bill for teachers' salaries and pensions will increase by almost €300 million as a result of a combination of pay increases, increasing pension costs and the full-year costs of the salaries of extra teachers appointed this September. My current allocation provides for increased enrolments in primary schools and continued growth in special needs provision in primary and post-primary schools. In addition, pay costs will rise by some €40 million to cover the full-year costs of additional special needs assistants in the system this September as well as provision for additional posts next September.

The Government has had to make extremely difficult decisions across all public services, and education, unfortunately, is no different. The fact that pay constitutes the bulk of current expenditure on education is inescapable and it was therefore necessary to introduce measures which affected the teaching resources available to schools. The budgetary targets agreed by the Government could not otherwise have been reached without having a disproportionate impact on non-pay areas such as day-to-day funding for schools.

I am from Cork, a county that knows a thing or two about hurling.

See this speech in context