Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

It is quite clear that the doubt that exists as regards the taxation of the lump sum is a real issue for many principals. I would encourage the Minister to clarify that issue with his Government colleagues once and for all.

Where a principal or deputy principal retires, the position is advertised and a new person is placed. However, when it comes to assistant principals, or teachers with special duties, since there is a moratorium on appointments those positions are not fed back into the system. According to the information that the Minister has just given Dáil Éireann, 456 assistant principals have retired this year in the first ten months, and those posts are not being filled. It effectively means that their duties are being taken up by other teachers. It means the posts of those teachers who had special duty responsibilities in terms of games, debates, music or whatever are not being taken up this year.

Will the Minister please look at the moratorium issue again on the basis that it is causing enormous problems not only in the post-primary but also in the primary sector? Could he also put the answer to my first question on the record of the House, namely how much this will cost his Department this year?

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