Carlow County Council will officially voice its opposition to proposed Government cutbacks in education following a unanimous decision to adopt a local Fine Gael motion.
Despite differing opinion when it comes to who’s to blame and how to right the situation, local representatives were unanimous in their hostility towards the Government’s targetting of the education sector.
FG councillor Michael Abbey introduced the motion in opposition to the cuts and said Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe had been ‘given a hatchet’ ahead of last month’s budget.
“Minister O’Keeffe made a serious attack on the whole course of education. We all support the idea that a knowledge economy is very important and it is going to be very important for the country when things come back to normal, as they will,” Cllr Abbey said.
He noted that the proposed cuts would mean fewer primary school teachers, bigger class sizes and no substitute cover for teachers, among other developments.
“If there was a need for cuts there must have been another way of achieving them and the sort of finance necessary could have been found elsewhere.
“The banks, developers and builders helped us get into the mess we’re in at the moment and it is the children who will suffer in the quality of the education that is going to be delivered to them.
“Theoretically we have a free education system but nothing could be further from the truth. It hasn’t been for years. It didn’t impact as much when we had plenty of capital going into the schools.”
Cllr Michael Doran (FG ) pointed out that the cuts would mean a mother of four would now be paying an additional €3,500 a year on education while 24 teachers across the county would lose their jobs.
Fianna Fáil councillor Rody Kelly backed the premise of the motion and said an attack on education would be a disservice to the country.
“Primary education has been sadly underfunded for a long number of years and there is no spare fat to be trimmed,” he said.
“There have been gains made over a number of years but those were made in an attempt to bring us up to standard rather than provide luxuries.
“Without the support of teachers and parents in local communities many schools would have failed.”
Labour councillor William Paton questioned Minister Brian Lenihan’s suggestion that the budget was “nothing less than a call to patriotism” when it was the pensioners and children being made to pay for the country’s mistakes.
And he accused FF of being the “flip-flop” party, blowing hot and cold over issues and “doing anything to divert the damage for them at the local government elections”.
Cllr Jim Townsend (Lab ) said the education cuts were an unashamedly political issue, as well as a social justice issue and a moral issue.
“If it is not made a political issue then no progress will be made. In a time of recession we should be spending more on education because when money is scarce it will impact more on the less well off than those with a lot of money,” he said.
But FF councillor Jennifer Murnane O’Connor hit back at suggestions that her party were using the issue as a political ploy.
“I don’t agree with these cuts and I am working on behalf of the people I represent to see if I can get changes,” she said.
Cllr PJ Kavanagh said FF councillors had met with Minister O’Keeffe and aired their opposition to the cuts and he had promised to review what was said.
And Cllr Arthur McDonald (FF ) labelled FG and Lab councillors “opportunists” aiming “cheap jibes but no bright ideas” on the issue.
Cllr Lorraine Hynes (FF ) suggested permanent teachers earning over €50,000 should take a pay freeze to ensure young teachers on the lower end of the scale would not be let go.
But Cllr Abbey said he would be more impressed with that suggestion if the “plethora” of ministers and junior ministers took a pay freeze or pay cut.
“For years teachers were the ones who were never entitled to anything and paid for everything,” he said.
