My Department also has to exercise additional control and reporting measures this year to ensure that the number of teachers employed in schools is consistent with the EU-IMF programme of support for Ireland. Flexible redeployment arrangements are required to ensure all surplus permanent teachers are redeployed into vacancies. Given our budgetary situation, we need to have sufficient flexibility in the redeployment arrangements to ensure that surplus teachers in all schools, regardless of patronage type, can be readily redeployed to vacancies wherever they exist. In the public sector context where there is job security, we must be able to maximise effectiveness by redeploying staff. Given the exceptional arrangements applying whereby teacher vacancies are being filled, unlike other areas of the public service, we have a responsibility in this matter. The country simply cannot afford to have surplus teachers in a school while permitting recruitment to take place in another school. My Department will be seeking to recommence discussions with the relevant education partners at primary level, on further changes that will be necessary if we are to achieve our objective of absorbing all surplus teachers into vacancies that exist in other primary schools.

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