Shane Ross (Independent)

I have never been able to understand why education is so readily and obviously chosen as a target for cuts when it comes to cut public expenditure. Of all Departments of State, I would have thought the Department of Education and Science was the one which did not need to be cut. It is the one Department about which there have been fewer allegations of waste than any other of which I am aware. There is very little evidence of it and certainly no proof of it. Yet, whenever cutbacks are needed, which is a periodical hazard and something Ministers for Education and Science have to do from time to time in recessionary periods, education becomes a prime target. I do not know why on earth that should be so. It is very fashionable to say education and health should not be cut. Let us cut back on health and the waste in the HSE. There is no problem there. We know that. We can cut the health budget in terms of the administration of the HSE but not the patients. We should not cut education.

The Minister of State should explain the rationale behind the decision. There are an amazing number of instances when the issue of education is raised on the Adjournment. It is no coincidence that the majority — I have not counted them — of the Adjournment matters raised in the House appear to be about education. The Minister of State will know this as he is in and out of this House every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday hearing about problems with education, individual schools in difficulties and teachers having problems. The teachers' lobby, which is very welcome, is constantly coming to us and saying we must do something about this, that and the other in a particular school. There are more complaints from the education lobby about cuts and underfunding than from any other Department. It is no coincidence. The idea we should start cutting the budget when there is an obvious need for more funding seems absolutely absurd. I can talk to the Minister of State about places where one could cut the budget until the cows come home.

I would be interested to hear how he could justify why they are cutting back on pupil-teacher ratios, school buildings, computers in school and other areas when FÁS has not cut back more than approximately €10 million on a €1 billion budget. There could be education redeployment and its budget is somewhere one could immediately make slashing cuts, transfer that money straight into the education budget and look after the schools, but for some reason that cannot be done

I have been very privileged to meet a large number of teachers in recent months. There has been a dramatic change in many of the attitudes of the teaching profession in Ireland. The one thing which struck me, which I said when the Minister of State was in the House previously, about what it had to say was not about its pay or pension, which are now receiving so much prominence. Rather, it is worried about the cuts in education and the way that children, particularly at primary level, were not being looked after by the State in the way in which they should.

There is no excuse for finding education an easy target. Let us look at FÁS, training and all the things where there is a massive budget and enormous abuse, but not at schools where that does not exist and where pupils are so important. Let us also look at VECs and see if there is any wastage there. We should not look at schools, school buildings or child care. The attempts to attack the child care budget are absolutely reprehensible because, as I think the Minister of State will agree, at that age children are very vulnerable and perhaps have a more acute need for education than at third level. It is the area where education starts and is the fundamental area which such not be cut back.

I make a particular plea which I have made before and is a problem which may now be in abeyance. Various members of the Church of Ireland, from bishops to humble parishioners, have come to me and asked about grants for minority schools, in particular for Protestant schools. They have said they feel this is discrimination against an ethos which cannot really exist or flourish unless those grants continue to be paid. The decision of the Minister in October to cut back on those grants has left a community devastated because so few of these schools receive grants. Admittedly they are private schools, but so few of them receive grants they are now put in peril because many of the minority community have to travel long distances to get to those schools. If the grants are withdrawn, they will not be able to pay the fees and the schools will suffer.

I make a special plea to the Minister of State in the light of this particularly acute need and what Senator Bacik said about people of different ethos being looked after and cherished by the State that Protestant schools not feel they are losing their identity and ethos as a result of the cuts in education. It would be appalling if they were being used to stifle an identity which is still flourishing and is playing a tremendous role in the running and administration of this country.