The reduction, which amounts to a decrease of more than 5 per cent on the funding allocation for 2009, includes a general pay-related adjustment of €350 million in line with the Government decision to reduce pay rates for public service workers.

The funding allocation for third level institutions will be reduced by 4 per cent, from €1.318 billion this year to €1.266 billion in 2010, and student maintenance grants will be reduced by 5 per cent.

Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe said “despite the very severe economic circumstances, we are prioritising the capital programme in education, with €794 million allocated for 2010”.

“I am providing €26 million to meet the cost of employing extra teachers in our schools in 2010 in line with the commitments agreed in the Renewed Programme for Government,” he said. 

ASTI general secretary John White said “the average teacher is being subjected to a swingeing diminution in their standard of living”.

Spending on education must be seen in the context of education cutbacks introduced since Budget 2009 and Ireland’s funding of second-level education, he said.

"At second-level, only one EU country - the Slovak Republic - invests a lower proportion of its GDP per capita on second-level students than Ireland,” Mr White added.

INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan said teachers had suffered a 7 per cent pay cut, they had seen their taxes increased by 5 per cent, a pay rise reneged on, promotions embargoed, and several hundred job losses.

She pointed out that teachers and other public servants did not cause the country’s economic collapse, “but now they are being asked to stump up for debts of bankers, speculators and developers whose recklessness and greed is at the heart of the crisis."

TUI general secretary Peter MacMenamin said “the reduction in the student grant will only serve to act as a further disincentive to those seeking access to third level”.

“The 4 per cent cut at third level is a retrogressive blow to the sector at a time when it is under unprecedented strain with rising student numbers and increased demand from the newly unemployed looking to reskill,” he said. (Source: Irish Times)