The synod of the Church of Ireland diocese of Derry and Raphoe has called on the Government to rescind proposed cutbacks in education which break a 1968 agreement reached by the Church with the State.

Synod members unanimously passed the motion on October 30, which stated that the diocese, "while recognising the crisis in the Republic's finances, greatly deplores the proposed draconian cutbacks in education in the recent Budget, calls on the Government to reconsider the situation, and enter talks with the educational partners with a view to rescinding the cutbacks.

”Any attempt to transfer the Protestant voluntary secondary schools from the free scheme to the fee-paying sector is unacceptable and should be strongly resisted," the statement said.

The motion was proposed by Sligo Grammar School principal Des West and Canon Stanley Johnson, honorary secretary of the diocese's board of education.

Bishop Good told the synod in Derry that, in these times of financial crisis "it must be questionable . . . whether citizens over 70 years of age, on the one hand, or children on the other, should find themselves among those who are expected to pay that price."

“I share ... the considerable disquiet expressed by many about the implications of the Budget for schools, not least the decision to increase the pupil-teacher ratio, which will not only increase class sizes, but more significantly may reduce by several hundred the number of teachers available to deal with pupils in the classroom, in the playground and in schools' extracurricular activities.

"Throughout the Protestant community in the Republic of Ireland, there is much concern about the decision in the Budget to withdraw, mid-year, support services grants to many second-level schools under Protestant management.

”This action is, in effect, in contravention of an agreement with the Government in 1968, under which these schools were classified as within the free scheme, even though they charge fees to cover boarding costs which arise because of the dispersed nature of the Protestant population ... throughout the State.”

Earlier in the week, Fine Gael TD Olivia Mitchell had warned that Protestant faith schools would suffer a cut of one-third in the grant that was allocated to them when free second-level education was introduced by Donogh O'Malley.

Ms Mitchell said the grant was designed to honour a commitment given by the founders of the State in 1922 to protect the educational needs of the minority community.

"Until the most recent Budget, this agreement had been honoured by successive governments through the decades," she said.

"For the Minister to refer to this agreement now as a mere anomaly is hurtful and insulting and does not reflect the provenance of the agreement."

The schools that would be worst-affected catered for the Protestant community in rural areas, Ms Mitchell said. (Source: Irish Times)