New teachers for the North Inner City schools in Budget 2017

2,400 new teachers nationally

Fine Gael North Inner City Councillor, Ray McAdam, says that the Budget announcement of 2,400 additional teaching posts nationally in 2017 will mean new teachers for North Inner City schools.

“The Budget announcement of 2,400 extra teachers for 2017 is very welcome and means that schools in the North Inner City will be getting new teachers next year. Local schools may also from benefit from additional resource teachers as part of this; the allocation includes 900 new resource teachers nationally. In addition, 115 new Special Needs Assistants will be hired nationally next year. The Budget also provides for the full year costs of 860 Special Needs Assistants recruited from September 2016.

“I am also delighted that the equivalent of 100 additional guidance posts will be restored across the country by September 2017.

“The Budget for the Department of Education and Skill’s will increase by €458 million (5.1%) in 2017, compared to the allocation for 2016 announced in last year’s budget. The total education budget for 2017 will be €9.53 billion, in excess of 16 per cent of total spending. This confirms Fine Gael’s commitment to education. Minister Richard Bruton has an Action Plan designed to ensure we have the best education system in Europe within a decade.

“As part of Budget 2017, Minister Bruton also announced the first significant additional investment in higher education in a decade – €36.5 million in 2017 and €160 million over the next 3 years.

“To provide for educational disadvantage, an additional package of €8.5 million will support over 3,000 disadvantaged students, including lone parents and Travellers, to attend higher level. The new Action Plan for Disadvantaged Schools which will be announced before the end of the year, include additional measures in areas like school leadership, teaching methods and clusters to improve the outcomes for students in these schools.

“The capital education budget for 2017 will be €690 million, an increase of €95 million on the 2016 allocation announced in last year’s budget. This capital fund will deliver up to 20,000 additional school places and support almost 8,000 construction related jobs, including the planned new school in North Wall to replace St. Laurence O’Toole’s Girls and Boys Junior Schools and a permanent facility for Dublin 7 Educate Together National School in the new DIT Grangegorman campus.

“Budget 2017 is another stepping stone in Fine Gael’s plan to use a strong economy to help make people’s lives better. Thanks to the careful economic management of recent years we now have the resources to target investments in key public services that will make a real difference to people’s lives. Investment in education, particularly for disadvantaged groups, is the perfect example of this and children and students in the North Inner City are going to benefit from Budget 2017.”