DISADVANTAGED SCHOOLS and the communities they serve will welcome the decision by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn to reverse some of the cuts to Deis posts outlined in the budget (Deis is an acronym for delivering equality of opportunity in schools). In all, 235 posts will be retained. In signalling the U-turn Mr Quinn was full of contrition: “I made a mistake. I got it wrong. When the full impact of what we did was brought to my attention I realised we hadn’t acted on the full information...available to us.”
This was an extraordinary admission by an experienced Minister. Mr Quinn, it seems, failed to appreciate the devastating impact his cuts would have in working class communities all over Ireland. In the end, it was the ferocious backlash from some of these communities – and not least from some Cabinet and Labour Party colleagues – that alerted him to the error of his ways.
This sorry episode raises a fundamental question. On what basis did Mr Quinn, as a Labour Minister, feel it was legitimate to target Deis schools in the first instance? These schools serve some of the most deprived and marginalised communities in the State. Deis teachers are battling with a literacy crisis where up to 30 per cent of pupils are functionally illiterate. These schools deserve succour and support – not ham-fisted cuts by a Minister who failed to appreciate the consequences of his own actions.
Mr Quinn says the resources required to retain the Deis posts will be found from additional cuts in capitation or maintenance supports to schools. The Irish Primary Principals Network is right when it says this is nothing short of “an attempt to rob Peter to pay Paul”. It warns hundreds of schools will face even greater difficulty in paying for basic utilities such as heating and light when this new cut is imposed. Mr Quinn claims he has no other option as he casts around for savings in his €9 billion budget; close to 80 per cent of this budget is absorbed by pay and pensions for the 94,000 who work in the education sector. The ruinous consequences of the cut to capitation and the Deis fiasco must raise fresh questions about the Croke Park agreement which protects public service pay levels. One education leader, Clive Byrne of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals has said a small pay cut across the sector would be preferable to more education cuts. It would be good to hear what teacher union leaders, school management bodies and other education leaders make of this proposal. Is anyone else – in Mr Byrne’s words – ready to “take one for the team”?