Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this most important issue, the need for the Government to address the position of 17 teachers employed by the International School of Martyrs, ISM, in Tripoli, Libya. The Government has failed to raise the plight of these 17 teachers from Ireland who are owed salaries totalling up to €200,000 by the ISM. These teachers have recently criticised the Irish Government for continuing to facilitate the leaving certificate curriculum at the school despite the non-payment of their wages.

The Tripoli-based International School of the Martyrs has offered the Irish syllabus and exam system since the mid-1990s. It is the only school outside Ireland to offer the leaving certificate curriculum and exams, and two of Colonel Gadaffi's grandchildren once studied at the school. The Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are currently liaising with the Maltese authorities to facilitate the exams. Many of the school's expatriate staff, including the 17 teachers from Ireland, fled Libya when the uprising against Colonel Gadaffi began in February 2011. The co-educational school is now operating fully again, with 700 students enrolled, and more than 60 are registered to sit the leaving certificate this summer.

In an e-mail sent on 25 April, Ms Martina Mannion of the Irish State Examinations Commission, SEC, told the school dean, Moftah Messei, and its principal, Ms Donna McPhee, that the issue of the outstanding salaries was "an urgent matter" which the commission wished to see resolved. The school has not responded to the e-mail. The school claims that Libyan restrictions on overseas money transfers introduced following the 2011 revolution are the cause of the non-payment of salaries to the Irish teachers. Nevertheless, it appears the school had continued to pay the Department of Education and Skills the relevant fees to allow its students to sit the leaving certificate exams. It was claimed by teachers at the school that they had previously been paid through a Maltese bank account. The State Examinations Commission states it has no role in contractual issues between schools and their employees. It has been indicated that the SEC has been informed by some former teachers in the ISM that there are outstanding contractual issues between their employers and themselves, and in order to be helpful to these former employees of the school, the SEC has brought the concerns to the attention of the school authorities.

The school was established in the late 1950s to educate expatriate children whose parents worked in the oil sector and the diplomatic community. It was called the oil companies school and it is still known as that by many people in Tripoli. I urge the Minister to consider this most important issue, as 17 teachers - many of them young and out of training school - have loaned their expertise and training know-how to the school in Tripoli. Not everybody would relish the challenge of teaching there but they did. Unfortunately, they have yet to be paid for a period in which they were employed, so I urge the Minister to explore the possibility of some diplomatic initiative being taken on the matter. The possibility of using diplomatic channels in this way should be explored.

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