Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

The loss of 250 English language teachers from September is double the cut that schools had expected and the Minister needs to explain how he can implement these measures which will impact on an education system that is already failing the literacy needs of many of its children. The extent of the cut came as a surprise to many in the education system as it is double the reduction expected. It is a decision that will have the most profound impact on primary schools. The timing of the announcement last Friday was clearly an attempt to bury bad news when the media focus was on the visit of the English Queen, President Obama and the death of a former Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald.

At present, 1,400 posts are dedicated to supporting children whose English is weak and 80% of these posts are in the primary sector. The loss of 250 posts represents a cut of 18% to the number of language support teachers currently working in the system.

How can any Minister for Education and Skills justify cutting of 250 English language teachers when just last year an OECD report found a dramatic fall in literacy standards in Irish schools across this State? Has the Minister and his Department considered the impact this decision will have on children from international backgrounds who cannot speak English or whose English is too weak to enable them to thrive in the classroom? It also affects other children within the classroom. For example, I am aware of a school in my area where at one stage 50 countries were represented in that school. The reduction will create major problems in the school.

I am aware that the Labour Party's "Plan for Fairness in Education" pledged to reintroduce up to 250 teaching posts of the 1,200 posts being taken out of the system under the four year plan proposed by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I challenge the Minister to explain how he can implement these cuts after making this commitment, while accepting the difficult situation in respect of finances. The Minister does have an envelope and it is up to him how he spends it. I do not think this is the correct approach to move forward.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation rightly pointed out that these cuts by a Labour Minister are yet another attack on disadvantaged and marginalised children. It raises serious questions about the Government which claims it is committed to improving literacy standards in schools yet it cuts vital resources needed to achieve these aims.

Many of the children are in schools in areas which are deemed disadvantaged, areas where their parents can get rented accommodation. The cut does not affect many of the middle class areas but it is a further attack on the disadvantaged children, particularly the cuts in SNAs and the Traveller education support service. The cut is a double whammy for many of those schools and will seriously affect outputs and the proper running of those schools.

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