€88 million investment and 1,700 new posts for Education – D’Arcy

Fine Gael Senator for Louth, Jim D’Arcy has welcomed the news that €88 million is to be invested in education and that 1,700 new full time posts are to be created.

“An investment of €88 million will make a huge difference to schools and to children in Louth. An estimated 1,700 additional new full time posts are to be created; this will mean 920 new mainstream teaching posts, 480 resource teachers and 365 Special Needs Assistants (SNAs).

“There will be no reduction in the pupil teacher ratio, there will be no increase in class sizes and this investment will allow for a €530 million capital expenditure investment.

“Over 150 new schools have been built since this Government came into power and over 100 schools have been refurbished. Further investment in buildings will be possible due to the Budget funding announced. €10 million will also be available for Institutes of Technologies during 2015.

“I am particularly pleased to see that funding has been made available to invest in high-speed broadband in schools, to invest in the Junior Cycle and in literacy and numeracy .   A new team of early years education inspectors will also be recruited to help improve the quality of the free pre-school. The free pre-school year is hugely important, this is a key time of development for children so it is essential we use this year to its full advantage.

“ The Irish people have made huge sacrifices to get the country to this point. Those sacrifices are starting to bear fruit but we acknowledge that many people have not yet felt the benefits of a recovering economy in their daily lives.

“Looking after the education of our young people is essential and it is an investment in our future. A key aspect of the recovery is job creation and the fact that we have the talent in this country to attract the best companies in the world. We need to nourish and develop this talent through investment and supports in education. Further investment in education is needed but the economic recovery is still fragile and this Government is committed to securing the recovery and maintaining the advances that we have achieved with the help of the Irish people.”