Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank Deputy O'Mahony, with whom I served on the committee on education and skills in the last Dáil, for raising this matter.

The previous Government provided for a reduction in the pay of public servants in 2009. Under the public service pension rights order 2011, 29 February 2012 was set as the final date on which public servants could retire and have their pension entitlements calculated on the older, higher rates. It is possible, due to this effect on pensions, that there may be an increased turnover of teaching staff in the next few months. Deputy O'Mahony is an expert in this field as a former teacher.

The Government is very aware of the potential impact on students preparing for the two State examinations of an increased number of teachers retiring between now and next February. To reduce this impact I intend to permit schools to re-employ teachers who choose to retire between 1 December 2011 and 29 February 2012 and who, immediately before their retirement, had been teaching students preparing to sit the junior or leaving certificate in 2012. These teachers may be re-employed until the summer holidays for the teaching duties for which they were timetabled immediately before their retirement.

Where a teacher's pre-retirement duties included teaching and non-teaching duties, such as in the case of an assistant or deputy principal, the teacher may be re-employed for his or her teaching hours only. These measures will be confined to teachers teaching State examination classes in post-primary schools and do not apply to teachers with no exam classes or primary school teachers.

Where teachers retire who are not involved in teaching in some classes then replacements should be employed until the end of the school year, in accordance with normal recruitment practices. This involves a full recruitment process for appointments in excess of 24 weeks or, where the vacancy is for less than 24 weeks to the end of the school year, the school should appoint a substitute teacher. Officials in my Department have discussed this matter with second level management bodies and expect to issue an information note to schools in the next week.

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