School cuts protest planned following Glenties meeting
March 6, 2012
A protest march is planned for Letterkenny Saturday March 10th against education cuts, as decided at a meeting held in Glenties last night.
Details are yet to be confirmed but many people are expected to turn up as anger flares up again with the announcement of a referendum on the EU fiscal treaty.
Arranmore priest Father John Joe Duffy, a campaigner against school cuts, said there was a large crowd at the meeting in Glenties last night and that there was “great anger” at what the government plans for small schools and schools across the board.
It’s understood some parents at the meeting voiced their belief that the EU fiscal treaty referendum could be used as a bargaining tool to get their concerns addressed.
So far the debate on the treaty has seen many groups with their specific concerns propose this idea.
However, Donegal Now has learned that government ministers are now refusing to attend meetings with concerned parents.
Fr Duffy confirmed this and says cuts will “affect all schools.”
It is understood at least 24 teaching posts will be lost in Donegal over the next three years as pupil-teacher ratios in small schools are increased. The number of pupils in the classroom will increase. Also, if there are not enough pupils in a school to meet the new ratios, they face closure, which will negatively impact rural Ireland, as voiced by Fr Duffy.
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny signaled yesterday that he would not entertain the idea of a link between the fiscal treaty referendum and obligations to meet Anglo Irish debt payments.
He signed the fiscal treaty this morning, the signature of which is subject to the referendum. The treaty mandates automatic corrections of budget gaps that stray from targets due to take effect on January 1st 2013.
DONEGAL NOW
