Education cuts could be up to €100m

The level of cuts to the education budget in 2014 could be anything from €44m to €100m, according to Ruairi Quinn, the education minister.

With less than seven weeks to the October budget, Mr Quinn said he will not know for another month how much he has to save from his €9bn spending.

He was speaking at University College Cork (UCC) where a small group of students protested about reports that student grants may be facing further cuts next year. The minister could not offer them any consolation that grant payments or eligibility levels would be left unchanged.