Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I concur with my fellow Deputies in asking the Minister to reconsider this very cruel cut to rural and urban disadvantaged schools. If we look at the recent budget a clear trend was that families who are lower paid or on social welfare got hit and hurt more badly and in a more blatant way than people on high pay. It is the same with the education cuts. The headline that emerged from the budget was that there would be no change to teacher-pupil ratios. However, when we delve down into this issue we see there are changes to those ratios and they are taking place in the most disadvantaged schools which most need support.

I offer the Minister two examples of the many schools that will be affected in County Donegal when this cut takes place after next September. Glengad national school currently has five teachers but this measure will bring the number down to three. In Carndonagh girls' national school there are currently nine teachers but this cut will bring the number down to seven and probably to six the following year. These types of cuts are unsustainable but in one fell swoop this is what will be experienced.

Last week, the Government wisely rowed back on the cut to disability benefit, recognising it was the wrong thing to do. Likewise this cut is the wrong thing to do. It is totally unfair for those families, in particular the children, to be hit by reductions in teacher numbers next September. I urge the Minister to withdraw this decision and change his mind.

See this speech in context