Increases in education funding announced in this year's Estimates will not be enough to stop the "brown envelope" culture of so-called voluntary parental contributions in schools - or cutbacks in higher education institutions here, an education lobby group has claimed.
According to Education is Not for Sale (ENFS), a coalition of teaching unions, students and other education experts, many parents will still be forced to fundraise to finance the "free education" of their children, while many students will continue to be educated in dilapidated buildings.
And it says that Ireland will continue to lag behind OECD norms in terms of education funding.
"The recent OECD report on higher education showed that Ireland lags behind other OECD members in terms of the ratio of education spending to national income," it said in a statement. "With (nominal) growth for next year estimated at 8 per cent and education spending due to increase by the same proportion, Ireland's relative position will not improve.
"At a time when the Government coffers are oveflowing, it is not acceptable that there is not a major investment in education to address the neglect of the past."
Speaking after the group announced plans to stage a protest outside Dáil Éireann at 4 p.m. today, Mr Ben Archibald, president of the Union of Students of Ireland (USI), said the participation of the representative bodies within education in ENFS should be a "wake-up call" for the Government.
"The much-heralded increase in funding for third-level education contained in the Budget estimates is another example of a Government papering over the cracks in a system that requires major investment," he said.
"The offer of a miserly 6 per cent increase will do little for colleges still struggling to cope with the previous year's 10 per cent deficit in funding.
"We will not allow the depletion of the education system ... we will fight and win against government plans to chop up and sell off Irish education."
Ms Marnie Holborrow of SIPTU's education branch said third level required "at least 12 per cent to maintain current spending demands".
"The Estimates did not grant anything near that," she said. "This is a further cut in public funds for third-level institutions which will mean lecturers and administration staff under unbearable pressure carrying out extra workloads and more cutting of corners for student services."
Mr Austin Corcoran, president of the INTO, said there were real fears that the Government would continue to provide privatised educational services, such as those currently in place at early childhood-education level here.
Since 1995, expenditure on Irish primary education had increased by 34 per cent, less than half the increase in GDP, he said.