Mr. Diarmaid de Paor:

That is a good question. I do not know how closely it is monitored but it must have a way of monitoring it because the Department will see the returns and the substitution and who they are paying.

Unless somebody from a school reports it to us, we will not know what is actually happening. If a member rings up and tells us that retired teachers are employed when anybody is out sick for any length of time then we could do something about it.

I do not know how it is being monitored in the Department of Education and Skills, perhaps it is a question that we should put to the Department.