Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will arrange for officials of my Department to be briefed by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors on its recent survey. I have already acknowledged to the House, and previously to the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, that bringing guidance provision within quota is challenging for schools. However, the alternative was adjusting the pupil-teacher ratio, PTR, staffing allocations. All of us in the public sector have to do more with less and teachers, including those who are assigned as guidance counsellors, cannot be exempt from this requirement.

It is important to note that the provision of guidance in schools is a whole-school activity and it does not just involve the guidance counsellor. All teachers in the school have an important role including year heads and that is not captured in surveys of this type. The budget decision sheltered the impact for all DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations.

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