The Labour administration earlier agreed to cut the school day as part of its 2015/16 budget in a bid to save £821,200 over the next three years. But a huge public backlash forced the party’s education convenor Michelle McGinty to announce the proposal would be dropped within days.

Council leader Martin Rooney told the Post that today’s meeting would see the reversal of the decision made legal and further identify how savings would now be made.

In reports published ahead of the meeting, the Labour administration proposed taking the £216,800 shortfall for 2015/16 from the general reserves, a pot of leftover cash sometimes used for miscellaneous costs throughout the financial year.

The remainder of the projected savings for 2016 to 2018 of £604,000 will be added to the savings target for the corporate services department.

Councillor Rooney, pictured, told the Post: “Parents can be assured that the primary school cut will not go ahead. The education convener, councillor Michelle McGinty, gave an absolute commitment to parents that the administration would bring a motion to the council meeting on February 25 that formalises this. The motion will retain a balanced budget as the 2015/16 costs will come from reserves, but the savings that would have accrued during 2016/17 and 2017/18 will not be achieved. Instead the council’s assumed corporate savings target will be increased by £639,200.” A pledge to spend £115,000 to increase the provision of breakfast clubs will also be reversed at today’s meeting. The investment had originally been identified as a means of mitigating the effects of the shorter school day and a 9.30am start to the day.

Six opposition councillors had last week tried to force the Labour administration to reveal their plans for balancing the 2015/16 budget.

Councillors Denis Agnew, James Finn, William Hendrie, Marie McNair, Jim Brown and George Black hosted a meeting on February 18 calling for Labour to “urgently” identify how it will make the savings.