Sinn Féin has begun a campaign against cutbacks in education.
Speaking at the launch of the "Leave Our Schools Alone" campaign today, Senator Pearse Doherty said the education budget should be exempt from Government cutbacks as was "crucial to our long term economic recovery".
Mr Doherty said class sizes were set to increase, resources would be "slashed", book grants abolished and that children would continue to be educated in "dilapidated, overcrowded buildings and prefabs even though building new schools would create employment".
Mr Doherty said the Government was "slow to react to the recession and is now implementing short sighted measures which target our children and which are ultimately detrimental to our economic recovery".
"While we all know that we are in dire economic circumstances, we believe that our education budget must be exempt from Government cutbacks. In fact it makes no economic sense to be cutting the education budget as it is crucial to our long term economic recovery."
Mr Doherty said his party was demanding "a first-class education system that enables future generations reach their potential and that is properly funded through a fair and progressive taxation system rather than the current situation where under-resourced schools are increasingly dependent through parents’ contributions and fundraising efforts".