Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, we are at a time of great strain on our public resources. The significant concessions made to island populations in terms of the numbers they need to retain a second teacher are very significant and favourable, as they should be, to try to retain a strong presence and community structure on these islands. The Deputy suggests in this one instance to change the date for determining the teacher allocation for a particular school in a particular location, but the system of teacher allocation does not allow for this process. Allocating teaching resources throughout the entire school system is very complex and time-consuming. The cut-off point of 30 September was chosen with this particular challenge in mind. If the Deputy wishes to raise this issue with me afterwards I will discuss it further and in more detail with him, and work with him in trying to alleviate his concerns to a certain extent. I must point out the criteria applying to the case are quite rigid and this is for a good reason.

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