PLC cuts to hit disadvantaged students worst, say opponents

Students from disadvantaged communities will be left with the choice of emigration or the dole instead of increased job prospects because of a €12m budget cut, opposition parties have warned Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

The claims come as he and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore plan a major announcement with Fás this morning about training places for the long-term unemployed.

Sinn Féin education spokesman Jonathan O’Brien said the reality of the cuts to staffing in the further education and post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) sector was an end to the only chance many young people leaving school in disadvantaged communities would have of training for work.