Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)

I would like to raise the need for the Minister to clarify the Government's intention on the future of two-teacher schools and their importance for maintaining a vibrant rural community. There are 570 two-teacher schools, which comprises one in six of the State's primary schools. The McCarthy report proposed to merge schools with fewer than 100 pupils but, as we have witnessed, while many of his recommendations made sense on paper, they had no logical place in the real world. The recommendation regarding rural schools did not make sense. Amalgamation will only achieve a mere 0.47% of McCarthy's suggested savings but at what price to communities?

The closure of schools tears the heart out of rural communities, as well as being detrimental to the quality of learning children receive. Research does not support many of the arguments on which policies of closure and amalgamation of small schools have been based and which form the basis of concerns about small schools being expressed currently. Study findings in the UK have shown that curriculum provision in small schools is similar to that which emerged in studies of large schools. Small schools have also been shown to make a positive contribution to their communities. Studies in the UK have shown that any savings made in closing a school can be offset by the cost in transporting students to larger schools and similar costs.

One of the reasons I have raised this issue is that I am based in the west and the proposals will hit that region, in particular. For example, 68 schools are under review in County Galway; 68 in County Mayo; 41 in County Roscommon; 20 in County Sligo; 41 in County Clare; and 60 in County Donegal. While this is an education issue, it is also a rural issue. Successive Governments have long neglected the west, as evidenced by the standards of our sewerage and water systems, our electricity infrastructure and the broadband service. The closure of rural schools will sustain this neglect. We experienced devastation following the closure of post offices. We need to protect small rural communities and retaining schools is essential in this regard.

Closing small national schools will also lead to increased class sizes, additional transport costs and a breakdown in community cohesion. Small schools are a central part of life in rural Ireland. Co-operation between schools as clusters can save money and can make the most of their resources without damaging the community. According to the Irish Primary Principals Network report on the future of small schools, such an approach has been successful in Sweden, Catalonia and France. I recommend that the Minister takes this report on board, as it highlights the value placed on these schools by their respective governments and that it often makes more sense to preserve such schools and their role in the community than to close them for short-term and illusory savings.

According to the report, teachers, students and communities would all prefer the status quo. Why would we change it and potentially do lasting damage to communities, many of which are under enough pressure as it is due to emigration and unemployment for the sake of tiny savings, which would be defrayed by transport and other costs anyway?

My experience of this issue results from the decisions made by previous Ministers for Education and ludicrous proposals under schemes such as DEIS where schools miles apart were clustered in groups that did not make any sense. Most of the resource teachers allocated under those schemes spent half their time in their cars travelling around the countryside. It is a different scenario in rural Ireland. I seek clarification on the Minister's current thinking on this issue. Will he take on board the rural nature of the issue?