Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this Bill and education generally. Education is one of the most important issues we must address, particularly given the need to protect it at a time when finances are so tight. I will use this opportunity to discuss with the Minister some of the measures he is taking. I hope that he will be able to respond to my points.

Regarding the Minister's approach to DEIS schools, I welcome his decision to reverse the cuts to band 1 and band 2 schools. As he acknowledged, those cuts needed to be undone. They affected many disadvantaged students and undid work that had made a significant impact in the schools in question, in that children who needed extra attention during their early years of development were given it. The work ensured a higher level of school continuance from primary to secondary level. I have seen its benefits in many of the schools in my area. The situation was made clear to the Minister through the many submissions made to him by the schools as part of the review process.

It is incomprehensible that in reversing the cuts to DEIS band 1 and band 2 schools, the Minister did not adopt the same approach towards rural DEIS schools and allow them to retain their legacy posts, which are as important to those schools as they are to band 1 and band 2 schools. After accepting that he had made a mistake and agreeing to review the situation, he did not reverse the decision in respect of 45% of the posts in question, which means they will be lost in September. That does not make sense. I understand the financial implications and the pressures being placed on the Minister, but it does not add up that a band 2 school in an urban area will retain teachers whereas a school a few miles away in a rural area - I am aware of many such schools that are even more disadvantaged - will not.

This flies in the face of many of the Minister's comments on the review. His argument concerns the finances but his decision to reverse the cuts should have been applied to every DEIS school. That cuts now target rural schools in particular is unfair. In many rural areas, the level of disadvantage is higher than it is in urban areas. They should have received similar treatment.

I am concerned by the level of consistency between the Minister's approach to this matter and his approach to the budget. Many of the cuts he sought were directed at rural and smaller schools. He has reduced the pupil-teacher ratio that will be required during the next three years for those schools to retain their posts. Scoil Colmcille in Glengad in north County Donegal is a five-teacher school that will become a three-teacher school. It will lose a legacy post due to the DEIS cuts and a second post as a result of the changes in the pupil-teacher ratio. It was due to retain the second post but backdating the budgetary change means it is in line to lose a mainstream teacher. All of this is happening despite the fact that its pupil numbers will increase in September.

The Minister has announced an appeals system for schools whose pupil numbers will increase in September. I hope that, given the significant increase at Scoil Colmcille, it will maintain its mainstream post. To this end, I urge the Minister to give the matter the utmost attention in his review. In light of the Minister's partial reverse, it is disappointing that the school has lost its DEIS post. The impact of the programme on the school has been exceptional. The school has submitted a report to the Minister based on its research on retention rates at secondary level of students who graduated from it. The learning supports and reductions in pupil-teacher ratios made possible by DEIS have resulted in students remaining in education until leaving certificate level and beyond to third level.

The policy of allocating teachers based on student enrolment in the preceding year results in an inconsistency that needs to be addressed. The Minister should consider introducing an appeals system for schools which are due to lose a teacher despite increased enrolment in the current year because they need to be able to maintain their allocation. Yesterday, I met representatives from Rathshenny national school, which is due to lose a teacher next September because its enrolment was slightly below the threshold for their current allocation. However, its enrolment will increase by nine students in the coming year. It does not make sense to reduce teacher numbers in a school where student enrolment is increasing. These schools will end up with larger class sizes because their teacher numbers will not reflect their enrolment.

I ask the Minister to liaise with his Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, on the impact of the proposed cuts in school transport at primary level. The regulation under which new students will be unable to access school transport unless they are attending the nearest school will force families to send their children to different schools from those their older siblings are attending. This policy has not been thought through properly and should be reviewed. During the general election campaign, a significant number of Fine Gael Deputies gave commitments that the policy would be reviewed but nothing has happened since then and both the Minister and the Minister of State insist they fully intend to proceed with it.

I wish the Minister well with the Bill but I am disappointed by his attitude to smaller schools in rural areas. I ask him to reconsider his approach to the issue.

See this speech in context