Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

We all agree that education is one of the key elements in ensuring citizens have successful, healthy and fruitful lives. This was underlined a few years ago by the then Minister for Education, Niamh Breathnach, who introduced the Breaking the Cycle programme. The irony is that her successor from the same party is attempting to undo much of the good work done by her. The attempt to dismantle what remains of the Breaking the Cycle programme and undermine the DEIS programme further is clearly driven by the need to balance the books owing to the disastrous economic position in which the State finds itself. However, the question the Minister has failed to answer is why is he choosing to punish children?

There are 15 DEIS primary schools in the constitutency of Laois-Offaly that will be affected by the cuts. Scoil Bhríde Knockmay which my own children attended is a 51-teacher school in which 50% of the children are from non-Irish backgrounds and do not have English as a home language. This presents huge challenges. The school is set to lose four teachers under the proposals made. Its capitation grant will be cut by 6%, even though it is already stretched, in spite of a very good management performance, and having difficulty in balancing the books. Why are the Minister and his colleagues in the Government choosing to punish children who were not even born when the crisis was created? It could be because the Minister believes the DEIS and Breaking the Cycle programmes do not work, or is it because he is determined to balance the books for the troika and has decided to pick on the schools offering least resistance? I look forward to hearing his response because the evidence I have seen shows that the DEIS programme and its predecessor, the Breaking the Cycle programme, have been very successful. It was an investment worth making as it resulted in a lower pupil-teacher ratio and the provision of extra resources, including language support teachers. Granted, it takes time for all of this to come through. Much of it is long-term and many of its benefits to society are yet to be seen, but even in the short term we have seen the children excel. We have seen children who may not have English as their first language fully participate in school activities and children receiving the extra learning supports they require. These resources, far from being seen as a drain on the Exchequer should be seen as a solid investment. There is a cost if children from disadvantaged areas fall out of the education system early and end up in prison. This is to look at it just from an economic point of view, which we should not do, but I wish to highlight this to the Minister.

Yesterday, the Minister and Deputy John Lyons acknowledged the benefits of the DEIS scheme and the results of putting in place those extra resources. They highlighted the fact that it is working well and we agree with them. However, to attempt now to remove these resources is short-sighted and vindictive and has been met with huge anger, resistance and protest. In choosing to pick on DEIS schools to save money the Minister has under-estimated the level of resistance in the schools and the wider communities. The Government parties, in particular Labour Party backbenchers, have felt much pressure on this issue and have been subject to many protests. Their first response was to attempt to spin their way out of it. When this did not work the Minister announced a review. This has become part of a pattern, and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, used it with regard to communidty employment schemes.

Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, announced a review of DEIS band one and band two. With all due respect, this is a cop-out. Reports on these schools have been done; they are called "whole school evaluations" and the Minister will know about them because they are on the Department's website. I know for a fact that one of the DEIS schools in Dublin recently completed one such report. Every evaluation has highlighted the positive role that DEIS has played in our children's education.

The public wants to hear what the Minister will do to reverse these cuts in DEIS schools and not about another review or glossy report. What people want to hear from the Minister and from the Government benches is when these cuts will be reversed and how soon it will be done.

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