HUNDREDS OF primary schools face new difficulties in paying for basic utilities such as heating and lighting after a fresh cut in school maintenance supports.
The cut in capitation support is designed to offset a Government U-turn on funding for disadvantaged schools. In an embarrassing climbdown, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has agreed to retain 235 “legacy” posts under the Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme. These were due to be abolished in budget cuts.
The U-turn came after intense pressure from affected communities. Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte and several Labour backbenchers including Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and John Lyons had also expressed their unease with the cut.
The Irish Primary Principals’ Network said the latest Government move, which would see capitation cut by 3.5 per cent – instead of the 2 per cent cut in the budget – was “an attempt to rob Peter to pay Paul”.
Seán Cottrell of the network said the new cut would see many schools unable to pay for basic utilities such as heating and lighting. “This comes as hard-pressed families, many of them hit by job losses, are struggling to make voluntary contributions to help cover schools’ running costs.”
Speaking on Newstalk yesterday, Mr Quinn said: “I made a mistake. I got it wrong. When the full impact of what we did was brought to my attention I realised that we hadn’t acted on the full information that we had and we hadn’t analysed the full information available to us.”
Sources say the Minister was forced to cut the Deis posts after his original plan for an increase in class size was vetoed by Cabinet.
