Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The figures are being provided. If the Minister of State has the figures, perhaps he should publish them. Ours suggest that 400 to 500 jobs will be lost in the sector. Even in respect of Cork city, the proposal is such that 10% will be lost. If a private company announced in the morning an operational change that would result in job losses in the order of 10%, the Government would do everything possible to engage with the relevant sector to save the jobs. Despite this, a Government decision is resulting in 400 to 500 people losing employment. Up to tonight, the decision was justified in only one way, namely, by stating the pupil-teacher ratio was to be brought into line with that in post-primary schools. The Government is now saying its priority is to protect the educational needs of children. If this were the case, it would not be cutting the capitation grants for primary and post-primary schools, and it would not have attacked DEIS schools last year.

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