Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate and thank my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, for tabling the motion. We have had several Private Members' motions on education. I do not understand why the Government and Minister have carried out such an onslaught on education.

I refer to a letter I received, which is not party political, from a school principal in my constituency of Laois. It states:

I am writing to you as a concerned principal of a small rural school. As you will be aware, in budget 2012 it has been decided by the present Government that the people teacher ratio for two, three and four teacher schools is to be consistently increased over the next three years. This measure will bring about a loss of hundreds of teaching posts and the possible closure of two teacher schools throughout the country.

They are not my words, they are the words of a school principal who has gone to the trouble of writing a letter to all local public representatives to highlight the issue because parents and the wider public may not be aware of the particular details of the matter until it affects an individual school sometime in the future.

The most worrying aspect of this issue is that in budget 2012 the Minister said the readjustment to staffing schedules is being phased in to encourage small schools to assess their options for amalgamation. We know the Minister will not force amalgamation because he knows it is a matter for boards of management. He will put schools in an impossible position where they will be faced with Hobson's choice, namely having to close and amalgamate with other schools several miles away.

We all know the ratio for two teacher schools has been changed from 14 to 20, which is a massive increase. In three teacher schools the ratio will increase from 51 to 56 over the next two years and to retain a fourth teacher the number of pupils required will increase from 81 to 86. Throughout the country, 47% of schools have five teachers or less and 659 have fewer than 50 pupils. In County Laois the proportions are much higher because it is not a city area. There are a number of large schools with ten or 20 teachers but well over 20 schools in rural areas of the county have fewer than 50 pupils. They are under threat.

If the Minister can explain the financial rationale behind amalgamations I would be prepared to discuss the matter with him. The mechanics of closing a school in a rural area are complex. If there are two schools in a parish one will close and an extension will have to be built in the other to take care of the ten, 20 or 30 pupils that have moved. The principal of the amalgamated school will retain his or her salary, therefore two salaries will have to be paid. A bus will have to provide additional transport and there will be no change in capitation fees. What is the real cost of closing schools? There seems to be a particular bias against rural areas and small schools.

Various colleagues have mentioned the budget proposals to amalgamate learning support and resource teaching provision will affect small schools. Deputy Kitt mentioned the issue and provided examples. They cannot be combined because it would lead to a split in the service and mean that a school may not have sufficient hours for learning support or resource teaching. It will have to be provided by different people and involve travel time between different schools when time should be spent in the classroom with pupils who need particular services.

In recent weeks there have been several debates on DEIS schools. The letter to which I referred is from a rural DEIS school. We have concentrated on DEIS schools in urban areas but those in rural areas have been attacked. The Minister has said he will make amendments and deal with the issue on a one-to-one basis but that has not happened. We have heard empty words and seen no action.

Several guidance counsellors were in the Visitors Gallery during a recent debate. There is a generational problem in the House in regard to guidance counsellors. When several members of the Cabinet went to school there was no such thing as a guidance counsellor and they do not know what they do. A member of the Government asked guidance counsellors what they do, other than fill in CAO forms. This demonstrated to me that senior members of Government do not understand or appreciate them.

As has also been mentioned, there will be additional school transport costs for people in rural areas. I hope against hope that the Minister will reconsider.

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