Education job cuts and increased class sizes just the 'tip of iceberg'

Trim Sinn Féin Councillor Caroline Lynch has said the announcement by the Minister for Education that 12 teaching posts will be lost as a result of Fianna Fail decision to increase class sizes is just the 'tip of the iceberg'. Cllr Lynch claims that up to 50 teacher positions could be lost in September. She said that the Government"s priority should be to get Ireland back to work and this decision should be reversed. 'The Minister insists that the number of teaching posts lost will be minimal; the reality is that approximately 50 teaching jobs will go in Meath and over 1,000 across the State. The Minister"s figures relate only to mainstream class teachers. 'They exclude language-support teachers, special-needs teachers, social inclusion posts and the dozens of teaching posts that would have been allocated to schools as a result of increased pupil numbers. This will impact negatively on every child in the primary school system,' she said. 'To have any hope of developing the economy, we need to eradicate illiteracy, introduce paid educational leave as a statutory entitlement and make work-based learning and training available to all workers. Sinn Féin"s priority at this time is to get Ireland back to work and to build the knowledge-based economy that we so often talk about,' she continued. 'The decision to increase class sizes is detrimental to both of these crucial goals. Rather than attempting to massage the figures, the Government should reverse this disastrous decision immediately.' Cllr Lynch is also calling on TDs and senators who retain their full-time posts as teachers to relinquish them saying it blocks young teachers securing permanent posts. Cllr Lynch, a qualified teacher, recently made the call in a motion to the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis. Speaking at the Ard Fheis, Cllr Lynch said: 'Newly qualified teachers deserve a fair chance at securing a permanent teaching position. The status quo that allows TDs and senators to continue to hold both their position as full-time public representative and permanent teaching post effectively blocks younger teachers access to secure employment. 'Indeed some TDs have held on to their permanent teaching position for over 20 years, despite not spending a single day in the classroom. This is not acceptable. I am delighted that it is now party policy to end this situation and give our younger teachers a better chance of secure employment,' she concluded.