The North Down MLA was speaking after the board of the Education Authority (EA) refused to back a draft savings plan. Connie Egan said: “The board of the EA considered, but refused to back a plan to save £110M during the current year. A revised plan to make savings of £43M was also rejected. 

“Either of these savings plans would have had a detrimental effect on the education of children and could have left the EA unable to adequately fulfill its statutory duties. This is totally unacceptable.

“Education services in Northern Ireland have been starved of adequate funding for many years. We are already in a situation where spending on pupils in Northern Ireland is lower than any other part of the UK. This situation is likely to worsen as a result of the current financial crisis.

“It’s time political courage was shown to ensure the best interests of our children is priority. We need an Executive formed now, so the crisis in education can be fixed.”