A cap on the number of students enrolling on Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses will lead to cutbacks in existing courses and the loss of teachers, the Irish Vocational Education Association (IVEA) has claimed.
Mr Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the IVEA, said a large percentage of PLC courses were aimed at "the most vulnerable sections of society".
However, the Department of Education and Science had recently issued teacher allocations to Vocational Education Committees for 2004/2005 which are based on the approved number of teachers in each school or college for 2003/2004, he said.
"The reality of this capping is that many two-year courses which started in 2003/2004 and would attract an additional teacher allocation for 2004/2005 now are not likely to proceed," he said.
"VECs will now have to review and cut back on PLC courses as the Department has made no provision for the extra 2,000 students enrolled in the current year.
"IVEA believes that PLC students are the soft target in an action by the Department which is driven by accounting rather than educational need."
Mr Derek Dunne, president of the Teachers Union of Ireland, also called on the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, to review the cutback.
However, a spokeswoman for Mr Dempsey said it expected the level of provision of PLC places for 2003/2004 to meet demand.