Make Educate Together an Election Issue

on February 8, 2016

A message from Educate Together:

Dear Supporter

On February 26, citizens in Ireland will vote for our next Government. This time, we must make equality in education an election issue.

Educate Together has put together Four Essentials for Equality in Education. We are asking you to please support our manifesto and when a candidate comes to your door, ask them to commit to:

• providing 300 new equality-based primary schools;

• providing 30 equality-based second-level schools;

• providing realistic funding for all new schools;

• providing for all children equally.

In 2016 Educate Together offers a practical, achievable plan to embed equality in the education system: the establishment of a national network of Educate Together schools. This would mean that all families in Ireland would have access to an equality-based school within 30 minutes travel time from their home.

At the heart of this campaign is the necessity for Ireland’s political class to accept the reality of providing for a school system fit for the twenty-first century. We are asking candidates to commit to providing the necessary funding for the establishment of all new schools. Current funding doesn’t come close to covering the real financial costs incurred by voluntary school patrons.

Educate Together receives zero Government funding for the opening, establishment and support of our second-level schools. If political candidates are serious about providing real equality in the education system, then a proper funding stream must be put in place as soon as the next Dáil convenes.

These commitments and related reforms, as well as other resources and a mechanism to email your local candidate, are housed on our brand new election website: www.educatetogetherGE16.com

Please print or download Educate Together’s canvas card to your phone or computer for when election candidates call to your door. Please also let us know how you get on. You can share your experiences on our Facebook page and you can tweet us @EducateTogether using the hashtags #GE16 and#EducateTogether. You can also email us candidates’ replies on election@educatetogether.ie.

We hope that during the lifetime of the next Government we can finally provide true education equality for families in Ireland.

Thank you!

The Educate Together Team