Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Public Accounts Committee

Department of Education and Skills - Review of Allowances

12:10 pm

Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

We reduced the categories for which substitution is payable separately. We reduced uncertified sick leave, whether someone could pay for a substitute to come to the school. We made it much tighter when schools are bringing in substitutes that are separately paid in order to encourage schools to use their allocation of 37 hours. The schools report to us that teachers have undertaken 37 hours. If funding is available for the grant at the end of the year, we offset that against the following year. We have a number of mechanisms to ensure this is the case.