Cuts to Southside Schools will Hurt Children’s Education-O'Leary

Cuts to Southside Schools will Hurt Children’s Education-O'Leary

Sinn Féin councillor Chris O’Leary has hit out at cutbacks which will see 9 teachers lost by DEIS schools in the Mahon/Blackrock area of the city. These cutbacks will have a direct and negative impact on the education of disadvantaged children.

Cllr O’Leary said:

“Due to cutbacks in this budget, just three schools – Scoil Ursula, Blackrock; Gaelscoil Mhachan; and Scoil na Croise Naofa, Mahon – will lose 9 teachers between them. A similar pattern is occurring in other schools across the city.”

“These three schools have been designated DEIS schools, due to the high number of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds they enrol. Over the past number of years they have done huge work in improving educational outcomes for these children, through smaller classes and focused attention on individual pupils.”
“Now all this progress is being put at risk. The loss of teachers at these and other DEIS schools across the city will lead to an increase in class sizes. That will mean less time spent by the teacher with each individual pupil. Factor in the reality that these schools have already been hit hard by cuts in SNAs and other support services and the reality is the educational chances of disadvantaged children in Cork are being seriously undermined.”

“It is ironic that this should be happening under a Labour Minister for Education. But this is a government which is currently paying billions of foreign bondholders in Anglo-Irish Bank. These cuts did not have to happen. Sinn Féin put forward a detailed and costed pre-budget submission which would have closed the deficit by €3.6 billion without hitting front-line services. Unfortunately, the coalition have chosen to make the vulnerable in our society take the brunt of the pain.”
“It is still not too late to reverse these cutbacks and Sinn Féin will support school principals and parents as they campaign to do so.”

For further information or comment contact Cllr Chris O’Leary @ 087-2794307