Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The principal is making his appeal on that basis but he lost out on the September number because some families moved — I remember him telling me this.

It is a very objective system. At the outset Deputy Quinn stated the school was only down by three pupils but there are schools which are down by only two or one. Teachers are employed in different schools on the basis of a panel. It is a good system that has worked well given 28,000 primary teachers are now employed.

The principal's appeal will be considered on 23 October, which is next week. I hope he will be successful in that.

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