Dempsey under fire over cuts

EDUCATION Minister Noel Dempsey was accused yesterday of breaking his promise to help disadvantaged students by slashing €36 million from his department’s budget.

The bulk of the cuts will affect schemes aimed at early school leavers or adult education courses.

Yet, just a month ago, Minister Dempsey said the focus of his tenure would be on tackling disadvantage and looking after those whose voice was not being heard.

“We are going to focus the education system so that those that are at a disadvantage from the start, the finances and whatever resources we have, are put in there,” he said on August 14.

Defending the cutbacks, Minister Dempsey said his department would not be spending one cent less than had been allocated for this year. But he said the Government had the job of balancing the books.

“The money we got at the beginning of the year, we will spend every penny of that,” he said.

The latest spate of cuts follows an increase in charges to third-level students which will raise €16 million.

The Department of Education have now met the €52 million in budget cuts demanded by Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy.

The cuts were severely criticised, particularly in light of the Minister’s pledge on disadvantage.

Fine Gael spokesperson Olwyn Enright said the figures make a mockery of Minister Dempsey’s promise to invest in helping poorer students.

“The slashing of €11 million from planned initiatives - to reduce school drop-out rates and to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds to third-level - is a backward step,” Deputy Enright said.

Labour spokesman Joe Costello said the targeting of the disadvantaged defied belief.

“Educational disadvantage is one of the major contributing factors to poverty and one of the principal obstacles to social equality. Far from cutting money in this area, there is a crying need for further investment,” he said.

Sinn Féin’s Seán Crowe described the cutbacks as shameful.

“What is the government’s excuse for targeting the weakest and most vulnerable elements of our society for cutbacks?” he asked.

The Union of Students described the cutbacks as unacceptable and said they would greatly affect students from disadvantaged backgrounds. USI president Colm Jordan accused Fianna Fáil of reneging on pre-election promises.

The National Adult Education Association accused the Government of a complete U-turn on its education budget.