Quinn’s U-turn - Sigh of relief, but more cuts to come

No one should be fooled by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s U-turn on his own highly unpopular and utterly inappropriate proposal to cut resource teaching hours for children with special needs by a further 12%.

Welcome though it may be, all the signs are that the minister has made this move for political rather than educational reasons. The reality is that since the Irish Examiner exclusively reported the planned cuts, Labour backbenchers have been getting it in the neck from irate parents.

Rubbing salt into the wound, Labour’s chairman, Galway East TD Colm Keaveney, currently out of favour with the leadership, accused the minister in our front-page story yesterday of betraying the party’s long held values.