Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the delegations to the committee. I thank them for helping us in our consideration of allowances. We all know it is a complex area. I think this is one of the most straightforward areas. In truth the word "allowances" has been applied to qualifications, supervision, posts of responsibility and management duties. In my opinion the word "allowances" is a misnomer, they are a payment for work being done. Other areas may not be as clear. Generally, a school principal must be paid more than the normal teacher's salary and the fact that it has been called an allowance means we must discuss it at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, but it is part of pay. There are probably historical reasons for calling it an allowance.

Of the total 58,000 teachers working in schools, some are in receipt of much higher allowances. I wish to comment on the appendix A which sets out sample positions. In example No. 4, this teacher on a basic salary of €59,000, has an honours HDip, a PhD qualification, a supervision and substitution allowance and is a principal of a large post-primary college and secretary to the board of management for which he receives an allowance of €53,186. The allowances are 47% of the total gross salary of €112,545. Would there be many principals or teachers with salaries of more than €100,000? Is that a real case?