As protests got underway last week against Budget cuts in education, the trade union IMPACTcriticised the Government’s decision to close the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE).

IMPACT represents a range of workers in the education sector, including School Secretaries, Special Needs Assistants and School Completion Officers.

Stephen Lyons, Assistant General Secretary, said:

"The centre was the only remaining initiative of the Government's white paper on Education in 2000 (Ready to Learn), and was designed to develop targeted interventions on a pilot basis for children who are educationally disadvantaged and children with special needs. The closure of the centre means that this programme of work has been lost."

The union said that the proposed cuts in education represented a severe blow to children, and were a withdrawal of vital investment in the future of the economy. IMPACT also said the cuts were a very crude measure for saving money, and a regressive step in the development of education in Ireland.

The DEIS programme (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), which was due to be rolled out under the terms of the Towards 2016 Partnership agreement, has also been shelved.

"This means there is no implementation plan for early childhood education in Ireland, while other countries have increased funding for early education. Ultimately, this will have a very damaging effect on the education of the most disadvantaged in our society," Mr Lyons said.