Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 170: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated savings to the State from the loss of 2,000 primary school teaching posts. [37421/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The estimated savings to the State from the loss of 2,000 Primary School Teaching Posts would be approximately €120 million in a full year.

I do not propose to give any specific commitment on the overall number of teaching posts in the education sector. These are issues that I am considering with my colleagues in Cabinet in the context of the forthcoming budget and meeting our obligations under the EU/IMF Programme.

The Government will endeavour to protect front line education services as best as possible. However, this must be done within the context of bringing our overall public expenditure back into line with what we can afford as a country. The challenge will be to ensure that the resources that are provided to schools are used by them to maximum effect in terms of delivering the best possible outcomes for their pupils.