THE CATHOLIC Church in Ireland has said it is "dismayed that the Budget for education hurts the most vulnerable people in society."
In a joint statement yesterday the Catholic Bishops' Commission for Education and the education desk of the Conference of Religious of Ireland said the proposed cuts in education spending "compound an already difficult situation for the Irish education system which receives proportionately less Government funding than almost any other OECD member country". It continued that "in these circumstances, education should not have to bear significant cuts in funding as proposed in the recent Budget".
It noted that the Catholic bishops' pastoral letter of May last, "Vision 08", stated that in Catholic schools disadvantaged and special needs pupils required additional resources to achieve full potential. But, they pointed out, the Budget includes plans to cut existing resources. "We call on the Government to revisit this Budget, bearing in mind that it is education that guarantees the future of the nation. It is how we deal with the most vulnerable that defines our society."
Meanwhile, Bishop of Ferns Dr Denis Brennan recalled, in a sermon at the annual Opera Festival Mass in Wexford yesterday, that "the people marching in Dublin during the week were saying the same thing Exodus said 3,500 years ago. 'Don't be harsh with the old or the young'."
