Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I wish to reinforce what the other Deputies stated. This is an attack on disadvantaged areas. For many years we made enormous strides in trying to provide education and give people hope and opportunity in areas of disadvantage. The DEIS programme, Breaking the Cycle and Even Breaks were put in place by successive Governments and supported with the necessary resources.

I sat on the Minister's side of the House and defended unpopular decisions but this cut will have devastating impacts in areas of disadvantage not only for the individuals concerned, but collectively within those communities. I urge the Minister to reconsider. As Deputy O' Brien pointed out, more than 40 teachers will be lost on the north side of Cork city, an already disadvantaged area. That is the equivalent of closing three schools in the area.

I ask the Minister to step back and look at the areas supported by the DEIS programme, Breaking the Cycle and Even Breaks and see if he can come up with any imaginative solutions. If we look at the budget we can see that some schools are getting extra allocations without being in areas of disadvantage. They are increasing their teacher numbers while elsewhere there are areas that have had legacy issues for many years. These are unemployment, neglect by the State, local authorities and society at large. There is one opportunity to give people a break.

I offer an interesting figure. Seven per cent of the people who attend these schools on the north side of Cork go on to third level education. That is a move in the right direction but it is only 7%. This is not about third level fees and does not involve any grand debate in the broader sense. This is about the nuts and bolts of people being able to read or write. I urge the Minister to look at the area of disadvantage, Breaking the Cycle and the DEIS programmes.

See this speech in context