‘All we’ll be left with is bigger class sizes’

A MOTHER who has seen her son’s reading and maths improve dramatically fears cuts to local schools will mean her daughter does not have the same opportunity.

Annmarie Kelleher from Farranree on the northside of Cork city is one of more than 100 parents who protested yesterday at Scoil Íosagáin, where up to 14 of the 36 teachers could be axed over the next three years under a range of cuts announced in the budget.

Her six-year-old son Cillian has had the benefit of smaller classes, literacy and numeracy initiatives, as well as other advantages of extra staffing since the school was included in the Breaking the Cycle scheme 20 years ago.