Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

A total of 561 children are enrolled in Scoil Mhuire na mBráithre CBS, Clounalour, Tralee, County Kerry, approximately 40% of whom may be categorised as international children or new Irish. They have either been born in another country or their parents have come to this country as economic migrants or asylum seekers. Many of the children have benefited from language support. It provides them with easier access to all subjects and improves their competency in the English language. It gives them greater confidence and improved language communications skills in the school and the community and it makes it easier for teachers to communicate with them to pass on knowledge. In many cases it helps their parents to improve their English language skills and some children even become the spokesperson for their family.

The Department of Education and Science guidelines allow for six language support teachers when a school has 121 children with language needs. However, currently 163 children are in receipt of language support in the school. The majority of them started school with little or no English. This still only gives the school an allocation of six language support teachers who are currently employed on a temporary basis. This pupil-language support teacher ratio is, therefore, approximately 27:1. However, when the proposed cuts are applied to the school, this will lead to an increase in the pupil-language support teacher ratio to 81:1 and a loss of four teachers. I am sure the Minister of State will agree the loss of four teachers who provide this vital support to the new Irish will have a major effect on the school. It is impossible to understand how such a ratio would enable these children to acquire the necessary language skills to access the school curriculum and to keep pace with their Irish counterparts.

The most vulnerable children in the school will also be forced to suffer. As a non-DEIS school, grants to help children from less well-off families with the purchase of uniforms, track suits, school books, school trips and other school activities will be abolished. All equipment and resource grants for teachers who work with children with learning difficulties will be abolished. Funding to the school will significantly reduce, with cuts of €3,000 in the Traveller grant, €4,000 in resource teacher grants, €10,000 in the free book grant and €17,000 in the disadvantage, non-DEIS, grant.

Historically, the school has opened its doors to children from all socio-economic sectors of the community and, as a consequence, it has large numbers of children from the international community along with children from disadvantaged backgrounds and children from the Traveller community. For a long time, Tralee has been highlighted as an economic blackspot with a large number of families experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.

Furthermore, there may be a perception that many international families have started to return to their country of origin. However, the experience of the school is that its enrolment figures of international children have increased steadily in recent years and have done so again this year, hence the figure of 163 children this September. The enrolment figures for September 2009 indicate that the numbers will continue to grow next year. The school's experience over the years is that many of the international children are enrolled later in the year and many more are enrolled during the summer months.

As a result of the cuts introduced in the budget, the most vulnerable children in the school, including the new Irish, will suffer as the grants which help with these children's needs have been abolished. These cuts cannot be justified and this is indicated by the number of marches throughout the country. I have never seen teachers protest as much. Last weekend, a major march took place through the Minister of State's home city of Dublin. These cuts will cause the maximum damage to the children's education and will generate minimum savings for the Exchequer. Surely preferential and sympathetic consideration should be given to schools such as Scoil Mhuire na mBráithre CBS which has a large enrolment of international students, Traveller families and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

See this speech in context