Teachers and parents protest education cuts in Tullamore
INTO President Declan Kelleher has described the Government's education cut backs as an attempt to 'cut flesh from a skeleton'.
Grace O'Dea reports
Mr Kelleher also claimed that several studies had already found that Ireland's primary sector was severely under-funded.
He was addressing a crowd of close to five thousand angry teachers and parents who attended an INTO organised regional protest rally in Tullamore last Saturday afternoon.
The banner brandishing protesters gathered at the Tullamore Court Hotel at 2pm. They made their way down High Street before gathering in O'Connor Square where a podium was erected for the speakers to address the crowd.
Along with the INTO President, the rally was also addressed by John Carr, General Secretary of the INTO and Don Ryan, President of the TUI who spoke both on behalf of his union and on behalf of the ASTI.
Laois/Offaly Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright told the crowd her party had outlined a clear alternative way of tackling the budget which would not have attacked the most vulnerable, leaving children without months of vital therapy.
She cited examples of pre-budget cut backs such as the failure to replace speech and language therapists on maternity leave in Mucklagh National School and the Sacred Heart School in Portlaoise.
Tullamore Town Council Chairman Sean O'Brien spoke of the frustration of all parents and teachers at the cutbacks.
Speaking at the conclusion of the protest, INTO representative Helen O'Gorman thanked the Gardai and Tullamore Town Council for their co-operation. Cormac Street and High Street were closed for a time to allow marchers pass through.
According to Ms O'Gorman, there were as many parents as teachers in attendance.
"The teacher parent ratio was fifty-fifty. Parents and teachers are frustrated and very concerned over the funding cuts. They want the cuts reversed."
She said it would be a long campaign and that everyone was aware that changes would not just happen overnight.
"This is the beginning of the campaign. Schools are only beginning to assess for themselves how the funding cuts will effect them."Ms O'Gorman was in no doubt that the hard facts will not present themselves until next year's enrolments are completed.
"If you look at Lumcloon, it had four teachers, now it has three. So it has gone from a ratio of 20:1 to 27:1. Parents there are irate. At Scoil Mhuire they had applied for a new teacher and had been approved.
"But because of the increase in class sizes they now won't get one. They have also lost four language support teachers. So instead of a class of 24, after enrolments, Junior Infants could go up to 30 or 32. That's when the real backlash will be felt."
She is now urging those who took part in Saturday's protest to join with them in protesting in Dublin on December 6.
"It's our pre-Christmas rally. We will keep going. We are going to fight the long fight."
At the conclusion of last Saturday's protest, four teachers, one each from Portlaoise, Edenderry, Birr and Tullamore, proceeded down William Street to An Taoiseach Brian Cowen's constituency office where they handed over 100 protest letters from schools throughout Offaly and Laois.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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