Education groups have criticised the Budget after the Government announced it is to cut spending on education by €603 million next year as part of efforts to stabilise the exchequer.
This amounts to a decrease of more than 5 per cent compared to the funding allocation for 2009. The reduction 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, while 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 added.
Reacting to today’s budget, Peter MacMenamin, Teachers Union of Ireland general secretary, 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 added.
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (Into) said teachers had suffered a 7 per cent pay cut, seen their taxes increased by 5 per cent, a pay rise reneged on, promotions embargoed and several hundred job losses.
Reacting to budget cuts, incoming general secretary of the primary teachers’ union Sheila Nunan said teachers and other public servants did not cause the country’s economic collapse, adding “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.”
Peter Mannion, Union of Students in Ireland president, said reductions in the student maintenance grant halfway through the academic year would have serious consequences on students.
The union said the education of students, who are already struggling to meet the everyday costs of living, including transport, accommodation, food and college supplies, is in jeopardy as a result of today's Budget.
The decision by the Government to impose a pay cut on teachers was also condemned by the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI).
ASTI general secretary John White said “the average teacher is being subjected to a swingeing diminution in their standard of living”.
Mr White added that spending on education must be seen in the context of education cutbacks introduced since Budget 2009 and Ireland’s funding of second-level education: “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.”
An emergency meeting of the ASTI standing committee has been called to consider reaction to the today’s pay cuts.
