The budget silence on removing primary school costs and on the rapidly escalating costs of going to third level means ever reducing chances of people fulfilling their education potential, according to the Social Democrats.
Responding to today’s Budget announcement, Councillor Gary Gannon, Spokesperson on Education Equality and Access said:
“Access to higher and further education begins at the earliest level of schooling. The refusal in yet another Government Budget to provide for genuinely free primary schooling for every child means we continue to have lower ambitions for certain groups of children. This is hardly the ‘republic of opportunity’ that the Government keep talking about.
“At the other end of the education system, the crippling cost of University fees, the low SUSI thresholds and student living costs are insurmountable barriers for a huge range of young people who have the talent, skills and ambition to continue to third level. Budget 2018 gives them nothing.
“If we are to build an economy and society that is fair and that enables people to access the opportunities that are available then the negligence of the Government in ignoring 3rd level access costs is unforgivable.”
ENDS
10th October 2017