DAY-TO-DAY discipline in schools is in danger of breaking down because of a government clamp on filling middle-management positions.

This was the grim warning yesterday from a schools' leader, who said principals and managers had a right to be angry over the education cuts.

In his presidential address to the Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools, Noel Merrick said the recent moratorium on filling middle-management promotion posts came as a shock.

"As more posts remain unfilled, one can predict the chaos that will ensue. Who will take over as year heads? Who will manage the examinations? Who will help with the timetable or the information technology?" he asked.

Appalling

"The spectre for principals and deputy principals is simply appalling. If the schools are to continue to function, the work will still have to be done. This is not about promotion per se but about keeping schools operating," he told the association's annual conference in Killarney.

Speaking directly to Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe, he said: "We already have the most limited in-school management system in the western world and I believe, minister, your Government will simply have to face this fact, otherwise the management and day-to-day discipline of our schools will break down."

Mr Merrick criticised other cuts as well, saying schools were losing over 20pc of their total grant income.

"When we know that our schools are already under-funded and are depending on up to 30pc of their income on fundraising from parents, how are schools to manage in the future?"

He added that one of the more regrettable features of the recent debate about these cuts was "the spin from Government that we have had to put up with, day in, day out".

"Would it not have been better for us all if we had more plain truth and less spin in the whole debate?" Mr Merrick asked.

- John Walshe Education Editor