The challenge facing Noel Dempsey in the forthcoming Estimates is beginning to concentrate minds in the Department of Education.
By some estimates, the Minister needs a 10 per cent increase in spending just to keep things ticking over. To add to his difficulties, he must find the money for the 10 per cent teachers' pay increase due - as a result of benchmarking and the national pay deal - in January.
One piece of good news is that the extra €42 million that he managed to secure last year for disadvantaged students appears to be safe, as it falls outside the eduction budget.
Otherwise, the only question now is where the axe will fall and how deep the cut. And all of this despite the crisis in special education, the rotting school buildings and the massive under-investment that still blights our education system.
And yet despite it all, our kids are near the top of the class in literacy and science, according to the recently published OECD figures.
Embattled ASTI president, Pat Cahill, is having a hard time of it after sounding off about Bertie - "the birds and the booze" and why girls outperform boys in the exams.
Now some people are creating a fuss. Apparently, many complaints have been sent to the union's Winetavern Street headquarters and there is loose talk about formal action.
For others, Cahill, a protege of former ASTI president Bernadine O'Sulllivan, is a breath of fresh air, even if his choice of words was somewhat ill-advised. In this era of spin and counter spin, it is good to tell it like it is, or as you think it is.
The savage cutbacks in third-level funding this year are being keenly felt by students out in UCD's Belfield campus. Library opening hours are to be trimmed back and Sunday openings abolished under a new series of cuts.
According to the excellent University Observer, this could be the shape of things to come. There is also speculation about a recruitment freeze, redeployment of staff and cutbacks in acquisitions. And all of this just in the library area.
The cutbacks have sent a cold chill through the windy campus with academics wondering who is next to be hit?
It is a question being asked all over the third-level sector. The universities, in particular, look vulnerable on all fronts. They will again be targeted in the Estimates, while some colleges can no longer rely on funds flowing from Irish-American philanthropist Chuck Feeney.
Want to get a good overview on Irish education? Don't look beyond a quite brilliant analysis by John Coolahan of NUI Maynooth on the OECD website.
In his usual stylish prose, Coolahan casts a cold eye over the Irish education landscape. His conclusion? Broadly, that we have a great deal to be grateful for - not least the dedication and commitment of our teachers.
Congrats to the new director of the IT Tralee, Michael Carmody. Michael, a native of Galway, obtained a first class honours degree in civil engineering from NUI (Galway) and a Master's in engineering science, also from NUI (Galway). We wish him well.
