merrion street

No decisions whatsoever have been taken in relation to changing the school going age of children or abolishing the transition year. Today’s article in the Irish Independent is based on historic documents that were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. They relate to options put forward by the Department of Education as part of the Estimates process under the previous Fianna Fail/Green government.

The article is not based on current proposals by the Department of Education and Skills as part of the Comprehensive Expenditure Review.

Work on the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure (CRE) is currently ongoing across all government departments, including the Department of Education and Skills. Under the CRE all areas of public expenditure are subject to scrutiny.

The CRE will be a critical building block in formulating Government’s budgetary policy for 2012 and beyond and the results of the Comprehensive Review process will be brought before Government for consideration and decision in the Budget and Estimates process later this year.