Mr. John Boyle:

A love of mine, of course, coming from the west Donegal Gaeltacht, are Gaeltacht schools. We would ask the joint committee to seek a commitment from the Department of Education and Skills that the favourable retention figures for Gaeltacht schools with five to 11 teachers would continue. There has been a trend in the past number of years where retention figures have come back into the staffing schedule and that has been a great achievement in INTO negotiations. We would be concerned if there was ever any talk about the removal of retention figures because that is the lifeline for the small Gaeltacht school. If a small Gaeltacht school loses one family, it can still retain its last teacher with the retention figure whereas if it was a bald figure on the schedule, one appoints a teacher at a particular point and if one falls one below it one loses the teacher. That has brought some solace to small Gaeltacht schools.

Fáiltíonn Cumann Múinteoirí Éireann roimh an straitéis úr don Ghaeilge. Tá cuid mhór tuarastail agus moltaí curtha chun cinn ach anois an t-am do ghníomh. Iarraim ar an gcoiste brú a chur ar an Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna infheistíocht a chur ar fáil d'achan scoil sa Ghaeltacht, na scoileanna beaga Gaeltachta ina measc.

Tá sé iontach tábhachtach go mbeidh an coiste agus an Roinn ag cuidiú le COGG. Ní féidir leis an straitéis úr obair i gceart ar son chaomhnú na teanga muna mbíonn na hacmhainní ar fáil don Ghaeilge sna scoileanna Gaeltachta. Nuair atáim ag caint faoi acmhainní, tá mé ag caint ar dtús báire faoi mhúinteoirí. Fáiltím roimh an gcinneadh atá déanta ag an Aire go mbeidh múinteoirí breise ar fáil do na scoileanna beaga sa Ghaeltacht. We believe that to save the language we should be prioritising extra staffing for Gaeltacht schools and schools in the Breac-Gaeltacht. The challenges these schools are facing are different to those faced at the time Ms O'Connor and I attended small rural schools in the 1970s. The make-up of the Gaeltacht communities has changed dramatically. Not all of the children now attending Gaeltacht schools come from a strong language base. We are requesting that special training be provided to teachers in Gaeltacht schools to ensure the tumoideachais - the immersion - works properly. We very much welcome the new policy in relation to immersion but it must be accompanied by training. In addition, there must also be a local stewardship of the strategy. In this regard, we recommend that comhairleoirí be put into the various Gaeltacht regions to assist teachers and schools in ensuring that the new straitéis is working.

We have a number of other concerns in regard to Gaelscolaíocht and scoileanna Gaeltachta. Tá sé thar am go mbeidh céim Baitsiléir Oideachais ar fáil trí Ghaeilge. Now that we have new institutions in Maynooth and Dublin City University it is beyond time there was a strand of teacher education focused on training teachers to teach through the Irish language. Another issue that came to my attention recently from craobh an Daingin is that there is extra funding provided to gaelscoileanna that is not provided to Gaeltacht schools. This anomaly needs to be addressed. Generally speaking, while the strategy around Gaeltacht schools is great if it is not properly resourced it will not work. Ms O'Connor alluded to some of our other concerns. The INTO has always engaged closely with the Department of Education and Skills and patron bodies in regard to amalgamations. In recent years, due to the various cuts in the small schools sector, the focus is now back on amalgamations. We are of the view that the Department of Education and Skills needs to take the lead on amalgamations. It is not that there are going to be multiple amalgamations prioritised throughout the country but where they are necessary the Department should take the lead and work closely with the patron bodies and the INTO. For example, an independent school support person could be appointed to each diocese to assist boards of management in relation to school amalgamations, which is quite an emotive issue. Where an amalgamation is necessary - it will not be necessary everywhere - there are a few prerequisites to it being a success. If there is proper investment in an amalgamation it can work well. As a pupil, I was party to an amalgamation in the late 1960s-early 1970s which worked very well until many years later when we got a new school building. There should be a special grant to incentivise amalgamations, including dedicated funding from the schools building unit for refurbishment works because obviously the building into which the three schools are being amalgamated will not be sufficient to cater for them. It is important the three schools are accommodated in one building rather than on shared campus or different sites. Also, all of the teaching posts should be retained until such time as the pupils have settled in, with teachers nearing retirement having access to redeployment if they so wished. The ASTI delegates spoke about school transport. It is a matter that comes to the fore at a time of amalgamation.

I am a príomhoide in South County Dublin and I have served many príomhoidí and members in the Wicklow area. The role of the teaching principal has become extremely difficult in recent times given the lack of middle management support. The big issue over the past few years for the INTO as a union is that the principal teacher has little time to teach and little time to administer. A principal teacher in Newry or just outside Newry is provided with one administrative release day per way. A key demand of the INTO for a number of years through its various conferences has been that this be available to all principals. There was a small increase of one or two days per principal per year provided for in the previous budget but there was no improvement on that in this year's budget, which was very disappointing. The lifting of the moratorium on post responsibility will undoubtedly help many principal teachers but not so many in rural areas because the smaller schools tend to have fewer middle management positions. A principal of a school with 183 pupils is responsible for administration of that school every day of the year but a principal of a school with only a few less pupils might have one or two days release from those duties. That does not make sense.

There is another issue of concern in regard to rural areas which if addressed would help rural schools greatly. Since October 2015 there has been a strategy in place for ICT and digital learning in schools but that strategy has not yet come into effect in any primary school. We are envious of the post primary schools that are getting their 100 megabytes of broadband. The school in which I teach, which is a very large school, needs broadband. Former General Secretary of the INTO, Mr. John Carr, once said that on occasion broadband in the west is dependent on the way in which the blind is blowing. It is beyond time that proper ICT infrastructure was put in place not only to assist in children's learning but for the proper administration of schools given the increased demand on school boards of management in terms of their having to claim for substitute teachers, record absences and engage with the primary pupil database. High level broadband is needed for administration purposes and particularly for 21st century learning.

As a union, the INTO is, and has been for a century and a half, committed to rural Gaeltacht and island schools. I recently visited schools on Aranmore Island. I am delighted that the measure for the one-teacher school will improve life hugely for one of the schools on Aranmore Island. We need to ensure that our rural schools and rural communities are resourced and funded so that they can continue to be at the centre of their communities. People in those communities value them greatly. We look forward to further engagement with the committee on this issue.