Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)

This debate has been taking place since the former Minister for Education and Science, Mary Coughlan, commissioned a value for money report and thereby acknowledged the need to review the school system and possibly save money in schools with fewer than 50 pupils. While the debate has focused on the quality of education and teacher numbers, it also raises the issue of how we secure the savings required under the EU-IMF programme given that 80% of the education budget is tied up in teachers' pay, which is protected by the Croke Park agreement. This is a major problem. The savings of such money as required between 2012 and 2014 will be difficult and has clearly given rise to concerns in rural areas about the viability of schools and communities.

Since before Christmas, I have visited schools across Connemara to listen to the concerns of parents and teachers. Schools where the number of teachers is being reduced from four to three under the threshold introduced last year have legitimate concerns. I met the Minister for Education and Science as part of a small delegation of Fine Gael Party Deputies and asked him to show flexibility and introduce an appeals mechanism for schools whose numbers are close to the threshold required to retain a teacher who would otherwise be lost under the new provisions. I appeal again to the Minister to introduce such a mechanism.

My colleague, Deputy Brendan Griffin, is fighting for small schools in south County Kerry and has been vociferous on this matter in the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. For example, he led a debate on a motion on this issue a couple of weeks ago. The increase in the threshold for qualifying for a fourth teacher from 76 to 83 pupils for Gaeltacht schools is a large step. We are all on record as asking the Minister to review this measure. People have asked me at various meetings what I am doing about this issue. I have highlighted to the Minister the anomalies arising in respect of DEIS rural schools and retrospective nature of the measures and appealed to him to show flexibility. While I recognise that school amalgamations may proceed, a certain amount of flexibility could be shown. It is wrong, however, to suggest that schools should never close. The number of schools has declined from 6,000 at one point to 3,000. Not all of these closures, if any, took place in the past nine or ten months. They closed under Governments of all shades. It is important to recognise that Ireland has changed, while also acknowledging that all communities have a strong attachment to their local schools.

We must send a message that the Minister and Government will not close schools as such decisions are a matter for patrons and parents. In recent years, schools in Connemara have amalgamated. I am on record as seeking flexibility in this matter and I hope we will receive a positive response before the final decision is made.

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