Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, and all of our colleagues on this side of the House as well as the Deputies on the other side of the House who over the course of the last two days have made some constructive suggestions and contributions on this issue. We have all had the chance to highlight the very important role small schools, gaelscoileanna and schools of minority faith are playing on this island. However, we on this side of the House have particularly highlighted the danger to their continued existence as a result of these cuts announced by the Minister and the Government.

Let us be clear on this point. There is a threat to the existence of many of these schools because of the measures that are being introduced. A notion being propagated by the Minister that no school is being forced to close does not stand up beside the figures being issued by the Department to accompany this decision. The changes that are being announced by the Department mean an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio for the schools affected. There is no hysteria in this because the Department has provided the figure that 47% of the 3,200 primary schools in the State have five teachers or fewer. Every one of those schools will be affected by this change. Maidir leis na scoileanna Gaeilge, caithfidh siad seacht ndalta breise a fháil anois mar gheall ar an athrú seo. Sin athrú sa chóimheas múinteoirí is dalta dos na scoileanna sin. Those schools of minority faiths are getting the biggest cut of all and suffering the biggest demands of all.

The retention figures are utterly inequitable. A large school with 12 teachers needs another 28 pupils in order to become a 13-teacher school whereas a two-teacher school needs an additional 37 pupils to become a three-teacher school this September. Small schools are taking a bigger hit and are being punished more than larger schools.

The Government has changed the goalposts by backdating the changes to last September, thereby not giving the schools a chance to make the changes and attract students. I am delighted many Deputies have referred to this point. I hear about appeals procedures. They do not exist in real life. They are a cover to get the Government through this vote. We were not given any detail as to how they will work. Where were the appeals procedures or the demands for them when the Government parties were discussing the budget in their various parliamentary party meetings before the budget? We would not need an appeals procedure if the Deputies opposite had been awake for that discussion.

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