Frontline services saved but other cuts will bite

THE Government has said it has protected frontline education services in Tuesday’s budget but a range of other cuts and higher education costs will almost certainly make it far more difficult to achieve the smart economy we all aspire to.

The government’s budget measures came on the same day that the OECD, an international economic organisation, found that the drop in the reading ability of Irish 15-year-olds was bigger than in more than 30 developed countries in the past decade.

While this meant reading ability remained near the average for the OECD region it could not be ignored that previous reports have shown we are well below the average in maths achievement.