Green TD warns of severe cuts to education

EDUCATION services may have to be severely cut as a result of the Croke Park deal’s protection of public service wages, Green Party TD Paul Gogarty has warned.

The chairman of the Oireachtas Education Committee said even minimal cuts to the €9 million education budget would mean swingeing cuts being taken to non-pay areas because around 80% of education spending goes on salaries.

He told a committee hearing about second-level curriculum reform that, while he believes education spending should be protected, the Government has to agree four years of tough budgets to get the country out of the economic mire.