Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Eugene Murphy for raising this important issue. I know how important this school is to the Deputy. As he noted, we have all had many cases like this raised with us in the course of our political careers. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, who is attending a very important education conference in Washington. While it is important that he attend the conference, he sends his apologies to Deputy Eugene Murphy for not being here this afternoon.

I thank the Deputy for giving me an opportunity to set out to the House the position regarding the staffing of primary schools and, in particular, the staffing of Tisrara national school at Four Roads, County Roscommon.

As he is aware, the key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and the pupil enrolments on 30 September of the previous year. The staffing arrangements for the 2019-20 school year are set out in Circular 0019/2019, which is available on the website of the Department of Education and Skills. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally, irrespective of location.

The appointment and retention ratios for small schools - namely, those with up to four classroom teachers - were increased in budget 2012 and improvements to the staffing of these schools have been made in recent years. Improved retention thresholds for second, third and fourth classroom teachers and the improved appointment and retention thresholds for two-teacher schools situated 8 km or more from the nearest school of the same type of patronage and language of instruction, or both, were introduced for the 2015-16 school year.

Budget 2017 contained two adjustments in respect of single-teacher schools. Where a school is the sole primary school on an island, it can appoint a second teacher. In the context of single-teacher schools with an enrolment of 15 or more pupils generally, a school can apply to the staffing appeals board for a second post where the single teacher has children across six or more class groups.

Small schools have also benefited from the improvements to the staffing schedule introduced in 2016 and 2018. Those improvements brought the teacher allocation ratio in all primary schools to the most favourable ever at primary level. The staffing arrangements include a mechanism for schools to submit appeals under certain criteria to an independent appeals board.

The school referred to by the Deputy, Tisrara national school, currently has three classroom teachers. The school also has a special education teacher. The enrolment required to retain the third teacher, as the Deputy has outlined, is 51 pupils. On 30 September 2018, the school had an enrolment of 49 pupils and is due to have its teaching staff reduced to two in September. The school submitted an appeal to the April meeting of the primary staffing appeals board. In its appeal, the school projected an enrolment of 47 pupils. As this projection is less than the required 51, the appeal was deemed ineligible by the appeals board.

As the Deputy knows, the primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. I emphasise that the primary staffing appeals board will meet again in June, which should be noted, and again in October. Should the enrolment of the school increase to 51 or more, the school may submit a new appeal to the appeals board for the retention of the third teacher. I thank the Deputy again for the opportunity to outline this process in the House.

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