Group: Primary schools face threat of ‘drip, drip’ closure despite U-turn

Government policy means Ireland’s small primary schools still face a “drip, drip” closure over the coming years despite a major U-turn on planned staff cutbacks, a leading protest group has warned.

The Save Our Small Schools West Cork campaign made the claim last night after Education Minister Ruairi Quinn confirmed that over 200 of the planned 367 teacher job cuts for the new school year have been overturned on appeal.

SOSS chairwoman Clara McGowan, who is principal at the 12-pupil St James’s National School in Durrus, said while the successful appeals should be welcomed, it still meant almost half of Ireland’s 367 two, three, and four-teacher schools would be “decimated” by cuts in September.