Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

That is the Minister's intention. By doing this, he is sending the message to parents that this is what he wants to do. Although the Minister is not coming out and shutting the school today, he is setting in train actions that will achieve his objective and undermine the quality of education provided to students to help them continue to succeed as in the past.

I would like to show the Minister the importance of the measure he is taking to areas outside of the larger cities and indicate the impact it will have in places like my county of Donegal. Based on the 2010 enrolment figures, 101 schools out of 178 schools in Donegal could be affected by these changes. In south Donegal, 14 out of a total of 30 will be affected. In north Donegal, 37 out of 66 schools will be affected. In north east Donegal, 17 out of 32 will be affected and in west Donegal, some 33 out of 50 will be affected. That is the impact these cuts will have in Donegal and other rural areas.

I acknowledge, as we all do, the difficult budgetary situation facing the Minister and the country, but there are certain things we must prioritise, in particular health and education. However, it seems that with the cuts the Minister is making this year, he is choosing to attack rural areas and rural schools. By phasing in his cuts over the next number of years, he is setting the tone of what is to come. I urge him to reconsider and to go back to the drawing board with his proposals. I urge him, to review this, along with other decisions he has made and along with the review he is doing of DEIS schools. He should go back and find other ways of dealing with this and ensure that our primary schools and our four-teacher, three-teacher and two-teacher schools in rural areas are protected and that we do not see an erosion of the quality of education under his stewardship. He should reverse these proposed cuts.

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