450 posts in education sector to go next year

Up to 450 posts in the education sector are set to go next year as part of the Government's planned reduction in the number of civil and public servants.

The Department of Finance confirmed last night that while the promised appointment of nearly 300 additional special- needs assistants for primary schools would go ahead, hundreds of posts would face the axe elsewhere in the education sector.

The Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen, told the Dáil in a written parliamentary answer on Thursday that he wanted to reduce the numbers employed in the education sector from 77,800 to 77,350 before the end of next year.

A spokesman for the Department of Finance told The Irish Times that teaching posts in primary, secondary and third-level were not excluded from the planned cuts.

It is expected that the reduction in the numbers will be achieved through the non-filling of vacancies.

Last month the Minister for Education and Science, Ms Hanafin, announced the appointment of 295 additional special-needs assistants for primary schools at a cost of €6 million.

A spokesman for the Department of Finance said these special-needs assistant posts had been authorised by the Government as an additional complement for the education sector, and would go ahead.

The spokesman said that the 450 education posts earmarked to be lost next year would have to be drawn from elsewhere in the sector.

The planned abolition of the education posts forms part of the Government's three-year programme to reduce civil and public sector numbers by nearly 5,000 before the end of 2005.

As part of this programme various sectors, including the civil service, education, local authorities, the Defence Forces and the non-commercial semi-State bodies, were given targets by which to reduce their employment numbers over a three-year period to 2005.

Mr Cowen told the Dáil last week that the Government had set targets for next year to achieve a net reduction of more than 900 posts across the civil and public service.

These would include around 400 posts in the civil service, 300 in the local authorities, and 180 in the Defence Forces.

However, the Department of Finance said that some sectors, such as the Defence Forces, had already reached the target employment figures set to be achieved by the end of next year.

Some sectors, such the health service and the Garda Síochána, will see employment levels rise next year on foot of Cabinet decisions to appoint additional personnel.

"The authorised figures in the health sector have increased to take account of the staffing implications arising from the commissioning of new health units, additional disability posts associated with August 2003 and budget 2004 funding packages, and staff taken over by health boards who were previously employed by voluntary agencies," Mr Cowen told the Dáil.

The authorised numbers of gardaí have increased to reflect the decision to increase the number of gardaí to 14,000 by 2008.

A spokesman for the Department of Finance said the Government was on schedule to meet the reductions in employment in the civil and public sectors as set out in its targets.

However, the Fine Gael Finance spokesman, Mr Richard Bruton, who tabled the question to the Minister, said the Government had not met its targets, and that the plan was disintegrating.