Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to raise this issue and I am grateful for the attendance of the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock. I wish to raise the widespread concerns among the Protestant community over the future of educational facilities, with particular reference to primary schools. There are 199 Protestant schools in the State: 124 Church of Ireland, 24 Presbyterian, one Methodist and one Quaker. Fifty of these have fewer than 30 pupils. Fifty are in Dublin, with the remainder dispersed around the country, many in rural locations serving rural families. There is real concern in the Protestant community about smaller schools. It is estimated that 20 of these schools will become one-teacher schools by the year after next. I regard the concept of a one-teacher school to be somewhat undesirable. I would be anxious to hear the Minister of State outline how this will work and how one-teacher schools can be managed. Forty of these schools have fewer than 26 pupils, and 90 have between 26 and 86 pupils. Some 50% of Church of Ireland schools are directly affected and will lose a mainstream class teacher on current enrolment as a result of last year's budget. Depending on enrolments over the next four years, a further 10% of schools could be affected. The cuts will render many of these schools less than viable and many will need to close. This can be compared with the figures for Catholic schools and for schools generally: 11% of Catholic children are in a school of fewer than 86 pupils, while 12% of all children in a school of fewer than 86 pupils. Protestant children are three times more likely to be affected by the change in pupil-teacher ratio than those in other schools, which I believe is unfair. What form of dialogue, consultation or negotiation does the Minister plan in order to deal with the issue?

There are other issues of concern to the Protestant community, including teacher allocation reductions; school transport reductions and eligibility changes; reductions in capitation grants; the removal of the minor works grant after this year; changes to school enrolment, which will undermine the ethos safeguards that have been guaranteed since the foundation of the State; and changes to the role of religious education in schools arising from the patronage forum report. In essence, many schools in my constituency and in the constituencies of the Acting Chairman, Deputy O'Reilly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, serving a geographically dispersed and culturally distinctive community in rural areas, will close.

The question of amalgamation has been raised, but I do not know what the guidelines are for amalgamations. What dialogue has there been on proposing amalgamation? In most cases, when schools are closed, it will mean the loss of Protestant schools, not only across large areas of the country but to large sections of Irish society. This is an issue of major concern across communities where education is being sent on a downward spiral. I am not asking for any community to be treated differently, but I want communities to be treated fairly. I want to see meaningful action on the part of the Government to reassure minority communities that there is a place for diversity and pluralism within the system for education provision.

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