Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 May 2012
5Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to implement an internal review of the State’s education sector in an effort to improve efficiency and secure savings from a range of educational services; and if any savings will be redirected into frontline education services. [26074/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis Government on entering office ordered a comprehensive review of expenditure, whereby Departments reviewed their expenditure programmes in depth. This was done to realign spending with Government priorities, while also seeking expenditure savings, necessitated because of decisions of the past. My Department had to find savings of €76 million in 2012, rising to €379 million in 2014, required to remain within the expenditure ceilings set for the next three years. In doing so I sought to protect front-line education services as far as possible. I also needed to fund new initiatives, such as literacy and numeracy programmes, junior certificate reform and the roll-out of high speed broadband to all second level schools. The measures in budget 2012 drew on the results of this review. In addition to necessary adjustments in programme expenditure, the allocation for my Department takes account of efficiency measures across several areas. These include the rationalisation of the VEC structure, the creation of the new qualifications and quality assurance authority and of a single authority for the award of student grants.
I thank the Minister. We raised this matter in the same week the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011 was debated on Second Stage in the House. That legislation is designed to bring together four existing bodies into a single entity, the Qualification and Assurance Authority of Ireland, in an effort to concentrate services and bring a range of benefits to qualifications and quality assurance processes in Ireland. At the same time, it is hoped it will save the Department €1 million annually. My party commends the Minister on introducing this Bill. It has some flaws but it attempts to streamline the delivery of important services and in these financially straitened times it is important that any inefficiencies within any Department budget are addressed in order to prevent wastage and the duplication of services.
Last week my party colleague in the Assembly, the Minister for Education, John O'Dowd, MLA, announced a further funding allocation of £72 million that will be spent in the coming three years, following a review of the North's education budget. This additional funding is very good news for anybody interested in education on the island of Ireland. It will be spent on important school programmes such as early years, extended schools and the youth service as well as on the maintenance of the school estates. This money was secured after an internal review led to further reductions in bureaucracy and to savings from the educational services. That is the kind of process that is worth replicating in the Twenty-Six Counties.
In the face of tough financial challenges any wastage within the Department's budget must be identified and the money reinvested into the type of front-line education services that have been prioritised in the North. The difference is that here we are making savings to departmental budgets but those savings are not being reinvested into front-line services.
As a result of the review implemented by the Minister, John O'Dowd, thousands of families will now enjoy additional funding for free school meals, uniform grants. Some £27 million is to be ring-fenced in 2012-2013 to help address the maintenance backlog, a measure that is added good news for the beleaguered construction industry. Every effort must be made to ensure that funding opportunities can be identified through looking at departmental, interdepartmental and inter-agency working. Of those savings that are identified, at least some must be redirected to front line services. Otherwise the overall quality of education will not improve to the levels spoken about in the previous questions.
I welcome the Deputy's comments and am working co-operatively and constructively with my colleague and counterpart in Northern Ireland, who now has responsibility for the same set of responsibilities, including for higher education, as I have. However, Mr. O'Dowd is confronted with different problems. The schoolgoing population of Northern Ireland is declining. The Minister has stated that a sustainable schools policy for post-primary schools should involve a minimum school population of 500 pupils. The INTO forecasts that this would result in 70 schools closing in Northern Ireland and reckons that as many as 1,000 teachers will lose their jobs whereas in the South they would be redeployed. There are no redeployment panels in the North so if a teacher is no longer required in a school he or she loses that job and becomes redundant. In addition, according to the INTO, 3,000 classroom assistants will also lose their posts next year.
Mr. O'Dowd has also cancelled 52 new school building programmes and is, in effect, saving £500 million there. There will also be a reduction of some £100 in the capitation fund for every school child as and from 20 December 2012. As the Deputy knows, university fees in Northern Ireland are £3,375 as against €2,250 here. We are not necessarily comparing like with like. However, we are working together where we can do so. I was able to find savings, for example, within my Department to fund the national literacy and numeracy strategy as well as other projects we have done.
