The cruellest cut of all - 32 of them

14th October 2008

Fine Gael Education spokesman Brian Hayes outlined 32 cuts in education not mentioned by Minister Brian Lenihan in his budget speech.

Speaking in the Dail on October 14, Fine Gael Education spokesman Brian Hayes outlined 32 cuts in education not mentioned by Minister Brian Lenihan in his budget speech: 

  1. Reduction in school building programme;
  2. 200 fewer primary school teachers;
  3. 200 fewer secondary school teachers;
  4. Reduction in English language support teachers;
  5. Reduction in staffing levels for previous non DEIS schools;
  6. Abolition of substitute teachers from January 2009;
  7. Early retirement scheme for teachers to be suspended;
  8. Cookery grant abolished;
  9. Equipment grant for resource teachers abolished;
  10. Reduction in Traveller education budget;
  11. Grants for school choirs and orchestras abolished;
  12. Grants for home economics abolished;
  13. Grants for physics and chemistry abolished;
  14. Reductions in Leaving Cert Applied, LCVP and Transition Year funding;
  15. apital reduction for Travellers and withdrawal of certain capital for schools that are not in DEIS programme;
  16. Saving of €7.5 million for school books in DEIS schools;
  17. Reduction in funding for local libraries who support school libraries;
  18. Subvention for summer courses conducted in Irish colleges in Gaeltacht areas withdrawn;
  19. Funding for Centre for Talented Youth withdrawn;
  20. College Registration Fees hiked to €1,500 from €900;
  21. Abolition of Early Childcare Centre (CECDE);
  22. No increase in Student Maintenance Grants for 2009;
  23. Reduction in provision of 500 places on BTEA initiative;
  24. Youth services grant reduced by 8%;
  25. Reduction in teacher secondments to in-service training;
  26. Radical increase in school transport costs to €300;
  27. Increase in State Examination costs;
  28. Reduction in Department’s Regional Office Service;
  29. Non-implementation of EPSON Act;
  30. Deferral of planned increase in medical education places;
  31. Restrictions in awards made to research councils;
  32. Failure to spend NDP commitment on ICT funding in schools.

2 Responses to “The cruellest cut of all - 32 of them”

  1. margaret says:
    October 21st, 2008 at 6:43 pm

    the only way government is going to be pressured to turn around these cuts is for parents and teachers to stand together and protest vehemently. Let the government cut the funding to the equine and greyhound industries instead and pump it back into education.

  2. Anne says:
    October 21st, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    Minister what were you thinking? You are destroying everything we as professionals work so hard for every day. What about our kids with SENs, you are taking away the future we were striving to provide for them with the minimum of resources that we had to hand and you have taken away my means of earning a living - i depended on substitution to stay in a job I love with only an 8 hour contract - do I have to leave a profession that means the world to me? Its looking very like it - all I have hear for the last week is ‘minimum industrial wage’ I don’t even come close to that. When I read WSE inspection reports demanding schools put increased technology in place it saddens me to see what little respect you have for this country’s teachers and the children they want to educate.

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