Green Party support another cut to Education ... this time it's €2 billion

Fianna Fáil and the Greens have slashed school budgets by a massive €2 billion in the Capital Expenditure Programme announced this week and this will have a devastating effect on schools and children, according to Fine Gael Education Spokesman, Fergus O’Dowd TD link.

O'Dowd said, "Once again, Fianna Fáil and the Greens are targeting the most vulnerable and it is children who will feel the pain of this massive cutback. The Revised Capital Expenditure Programme has actually slashed schools budgets by 40% when compared to the National Development Plan. To add insult to injury, the Government have attempted to hide this cut.

The NDP provided for €5.1 billion in funding to the school building programme with €4.5 billion going to the Schools Infrastructure Sub-Programme, €318 million going on curriculum reform and professional development and €252 million being made available for ICT in schools. However, the Revised Capital Expenditure Programme merged these three spending areas into one budget as opposed to breaking them down into individual budgets as was done in the NDP. The Budget in the capital expenditure programme was €3.1 billion, a massive €2 billion write-down from what was pledged before.

It is clear that Fianna Fáil and the Greens merged the spending areas into one budget in an attempt to hide the cuts but there is no way that schools across the country will ignore a 40% cut in promised funds."