Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

Perhaps it might be useful to give some background on that allowance. It arose from the lengthy industrial relations dispute from 2000 to 2002. Prior to that, supervision and substitution had been undertaken on a kind of grace and favour basis by teachers. At second level in particular, teachers withdrew that grace and favour basis and we had to move to the position of giving schools money to employ supervisors for pupils outside classes. Arising from that we entered into detailed discussions with the unions and agreed a scheme whereby they would take responsibility for 37 hours of supervision and substitution in return for a payment. Where teachers did not opt into the scheme, we give the schools a grant to employ supervisors. That is the basis and it applies in a different way in primary and post-primary schools because of the nature of the primary school day, where there is full class contact time, as opposed to secondary level, where there is typically 22 hours of class contact time. The supervision could be yard supervision before or after school but it could also apply to classes where a teacher is unavailable.

It was subject to a Comptroller and Auditor General review with regard to the 2007 and 2008 school year.

The report was published in 2009. It was considered by this committee and in some detail at the time. As part of the agreement with teachers under the Croke Park agreement, we increased the number of hours at second level, whereby teachers would make themselves available or opt to be available for an increased number of hours. Teachers agree with their principal regarding their availability for a number of class periods per week. We increased the potential availability in order that principals would have a better option when it came to getting teachers to supervise under the substitution and supervision scheme.