Education cuts must be reversed

Posted on October 30, 2008 at 11:11 AM

Thousands and thousands of teachers, parents and students took to the streets last night in the biting cold and rain to protest against the education cutbacks contained in the Budget.

Inside Leinster House deputies were debating the Labour Party Private Members' Motion which seeks the reversal of the cuts.

Our Education Spokesperson Ruairi Quinn led the debate last night and you can see his contribution in the accompanying You Tube clip and read his speech in our media centre here. There are also a few photographs from the large protest on our Flickr photo stream and our poll asking if class sizes should be going down instead of up is still running; you can vote here.

The debate will continue this morning and will be concluded by the Labour Leader Eamon Gilmore. When the voting has finished we will publish the results here.

Meanwhile Labour bloggers have all been talking about the Budget's education cuts, over in Westport Cllr Keith Martin in his Political Quote blog quotes Education Spokesperson Ruairi Quinn's description of the Budget as 'a dog's dinner'. Wexford's Cllr Joe Ryan reports on last night's demonstration with words, videos and pictures.

"Molesworth St was chock-a-block last night as thousands of parents, teachers, and some pupils gathered to vent their frustration and indeed anger at the budget cuts that Minister Batt O'Keeffe is determined to roll out in schools around the country.

"As a teacher I take exception to the minister claiming that teacher unions are hysterical and scare mongering of the highest order. The facts are that school bus fees will rise to €300 per annum, Education for Special needs will be ignored and that English teachers will be limited to 2 maximum. Add to that the cuts in funding for LCVP, LCAP and Transition Year and the ban on substitution for colleagues absent on school business."

In Waterford Cllr Seamus Ryan also writing about the education cuts says on his blog: "At the last General Election the Green Party were quite rightly extremely vocal in their demand for extra teachers in our schools. Yet it seems they are about to vote through today a budget provision that will see Ireland have the second highest class sizes in Europe. The ordinary Green Party member I have spoken to this week are not happy with the decision taken by their parliamentary party. It seems its power at all costs."

Hypocrisy is the theme on Cllr Sean O'Hargain's blog while Senator Alex White writes how primary schools in Dublin South will lose up to 14 teachers under the new pupil-teacher ratios set by the Government as a result of the Budget changes. Deputy Leader of the Labour Party Joan Burton writes how the Budget changes will have a significant and dire effect on schools in Dublin 15.

So what do you think of this whole education cuts debacle? Let us know in the comments below.

Tagged with Education • budget09