Small Galway schools set to lose teachers for September resumption

Eighteen small primary schools in Galway and Mayo will lose a teacher this September as Government cutbacks target children’s education and futures.

Figures obtained by Galway West Fianna Fáil TD, Éamon Ó Cuív, confirm the West of Ireland is disproportionately bearing the brunt of austerity.

The figures reveal 18 of the 27 schools set to lose a teacher at the beginning of the new term are in Galway and Mayo.

Deputy Ó Cuív said the downgrading of small schools in Galway and Mayo was further evidence of this Government’s plans to ‘shut down’ rural Ireland.

Outgoing Education Minister Ruairí Quinn has confirmed that eleven small schools in Mayo and seven small schools in Galway are losing a teacher.

The cuts are a continuation of measures introduced in Budget 2012, which have already slashed the number of teaching posts in schools in Galway and the west.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.