Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the expansion to the staffing appeal process to include small schools affected by the recent budget measure.

Budget 2012 provided for phased increases in the pupil thresholds for the allocation of mainstream classroom teachers in small primary schools. This affects schools with enrolment of fewer than 86 pupils. The first of these phased increases in the pupil thresholds takes effect from September 2012. Out of an overall total of almost 1,200 small primary schools it is envisaged that marginally more than 73 schools will lose a mainstream classroom teacher in September 2012 as a direct result of the impact of the budget measure. The final number of such schools will become clearer as the teacher allocation process is progressed.

The existing staffing appeals process is being expanded to be accessible to those small schools which are due to lose a classroom post as a direct result of the budget measure. Such schools will be able to submit an appeal to the independent staffing appeals board on the basis that it is projecting increased enrolment in September 2012 that would be sufficient to allow it to retain its existing classroom posts over the longer term. The detailed arrangements for this are set out in the Department's staffing circular which was published yesterday on the Department's website. The first meeting of the staffing appeals board will be held in April. Small schools that are projecting increased enrolments in September 2012 should submit their appeals to it on or before Friday, 23 March 2012. The outcome of appeals will be notified to schools as soon as possible after the meeting of the staffing appeals board in April.

This Government recognises that small schools are an important part of the social fabric of rural communities. They will continue to be a feature of our education landscape. However, this does not mean that small schools can stand still or never have their staffing levels changed to something that is more affordable and sustainable for these difficult and challenging times.

School communities should have no reason to feel that there will be a forced closure or amalgamation of their local school. A school does not close because it loses a teacher; schools close because of a loss of pupils. Small primary schools that have had to close in recent years are those that are no longer viable due to falling enrolments. The enrolment in such schools had typically fallen below a total of eight pupils for two consecutive school years.

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