Children ‘will be forced to quit school over costs’

CHILDREN will be forced to drop out of school next year as the economy plunges deeper into recession, the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) warned yesterday.

National vice-president Prof John Monaghan said education cuts in the budget would discourage young people from poorer homes in better-off areas from remaining in school.

He was part of the SVP delegation who briefed the joint Oireachtas committee for social and family affairs on the current extraordinary pressure on the society’s financial and human resources.