Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 10: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if teachers on indefinite contracts can be replaced under the terms of the Croke Park deal. [30986/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to the position of teachers who hold a contract of indefinite duration, CID. Under the public service agreement, the Government has given a commitment that compulsory redundancy will not apply to permanent staff within the public service, save where existing exit provisions apply. This commitment was given in the context of redeployment and comprehends teachers employed on contracts of indefinite duration who are covered by the teachers' redeployment scheme. This scheme is in place to redeploy permanent and CID teachers where they are surplus in a particular school or VEC or in the event of school closure.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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This was a technical question and, with the exception of teachers affected by it, people are not interested in it. I have come across a number of cases of this. It may involve teachers with contracts of indefinite duration who do not have 22 hours of teaching. I know of a teacher who has five hours and 20 minutes paid by the Department, with the rest paid by the school. Now that another teacher has been redeployed to school, that teacher is in a crisis situation. These are awkward cases and it is difficult to legislate for them. People seek information on the situation. Perhaps there could be a circular or advice given on it.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I understand the difficulty. The problem in getting good, permanent employment in secondary schools is that teachers tend to be teachers of subjects. Getting the number of hours required to teach a couple of subjects can be problematic, particularly in smaller schools. It is a topic I will discuss with the employment and management bodies in the area. The same problem does not exist in the primary school sector because the teacher is employed to teach a specific class, not a specific subject. It is unsatisfactory and the situation to which Deputy Crowe refers can arise.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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In this example, the person is in the job for five years. At this stage, the person should be moving towards a full-time contract. Lo and behold, once a teacher is redeployed, the teacher has been reduced to five hours and 20 minutes and has lost the support she received from the school. Are there many such cases? With the pressure in the system, we will get more and more of these cases. Can the Minister outline the number of cases this affects?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I will take note of the specific request and provide information on it. Across the employment spectrum in education, the good news for teachers at primary and secondary level is that in the next six years we will have 45,000 extra primary school pupils and 25,000 post-primary pupils. Dividing this by the pupil teacher ratio, approximately 30, gives an indication of the number of teachers required. Redeployment out of the system, even including schools that will lose a teacher because of size and pupil teacher ratios, will not account for this. Demand for teachers is strong and will continue until 2024.