Campaigners against teacher cuts in disadvantaged schools say they will press ahead with a protest planned for next Thursday, despite an admission by the Minister for Education that the budget cuts as proposed were a mistake.

Ruairi Quinn said the extent of the cuts to disadvantaged schools would be reduced but he warned that alternative cuts would have to be found from within the Primary sector.

Dublin school principals have told RTE News that the Minister's comments have not gone far enough.

They say they want a complete reversal of the measures which will see 428 teaching posts cut from so called DEIS schools.

Thursday's planned protest is being co-ordinated by the four Dublin districts of Primary teacher's union the INTO.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Quinn conceded he had not handled the issue properly.

“It's not the best way to do it, quite frankly,” he said.

“I'm out of practice. We're getting back into the business of trying to do this. It's very difficult to adjust these kinds of things, you're dealing with calculations and assumptions."

"We make mistakes, we get things wrong, all of us. And I think the first thing to do is to put your hand up and say, yes, perhaps let's look at that again, that is what we're doing.

“But the bottom line is; I don't have extra resources. So if I have to keep those positions in place, I have to take resources from somewhere else within my budget."

Yesterday, a Private Members bill, proposed by Sinn Féin to reverse cuts to DEIS supported schools in disadvantaged areas, was defeated in the Dáil by 85 votes to 42.

The INTO today welcomed the publication of a report on the first phase of the DEIS programme in primary schools.

The report published by the Education Research Centre covers the years 2007 to 2010 shows significantly higher scores in reading and mathematics.

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has said there would be changes following a review of the impact of Budget cuts on individual schools in disadvantaged areas.

On RTÉ's Prime Time programme last night, Mr Rabbitte said it wasn't fair to levy, disproportionately, cuts on disadvantaged communities but the minister had to work within the finances currently available to him.

In relation to the report being prepared by Minister Quinn's department, he said: "If there are changes, and there will be changes, he will have to fund that in his budget - so there's no change to the bottom line".