Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

I have just come from a demonstration of between 3,000 and 6,000 DEIS school students, parents and teachers from across this city and the country. They want the Minister to agree to a complete reversal on and taking off the table of all proposed cuts to resources for disadvantaged schools, whether DEIS band 1, DEIS band 2 or those with legacy posts. The Minister knows from various reports that DEIS has been a success and a lifeline to disadvantaged communities. They have already been hit by other austerity measures; they do not need these cuts.

When I met the troika this week, it made it very clear that specific austerity measures are the Government's call while it just sets the parameters for the deficit. The Government does have the choice to make cuts elsewhere. There is no economic or moral logic in cutting education, particularly that of the least well-off. Cutting back on our children's futures will mean we will pay economically and socially in the future.

The Minister has the choice to tax the people at the top who have the money instead of hitting the most disadvantaged in our society. I appeal to the Minister to give some solace to those who were demonstrating today and their children.

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