Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Mary Coughlan. I thank the Senator for raising the issue and will be glad to outline the general position on the supply teacher scheme at primary level.

The supply teacher scheme was initially set up at primary level more than 15 years ago at a time when schools had difficulty getting substitute teachers. The supply scheme operates on the basis of an additional full-time teacher being allocated to a school to cover certified sick leave absences in that school and a cluster of neighbouring schools. If the teacher is not required on a given day to cover sick leave absences, he or she generally assists with other work in the school such as administrative duties. There are 60 posts allocated to the scheme.

A value for money review of the supply teacher scheme was published in July 2006. The Senator may not like to hear this but the review found that approximately 60% of these teachers' time was used to cover sick leave absences, with the balance spent on various other school duties. This reflects the unpredictable nature of sick leave absences. While there are benefits for schools in having these full-time teachers, it is considered more cost-effective to use the normal substitution arrangements that apply to all other schools to cover sick leave absences instead of having a cohort of full-time teachers on call all the time in these schools to cover sick leave absences that may or may not arise.

I do not have to outline for Senators the current economic, fiscal and budgetary challenges facing the State. Addressing those challenges requires decisions that, if resources were more readily available, we would prefer not to have to take. In that context, it has been decided to discontinue the supply teacher scheme from the start of the 2010-2011 school year. It is expected that this will save €400,000 in 2010 and €1.1 million in a full year. The teachers concerned will be redeployed in accordance with the existing redeployment arrangements to other schools that have vacancies. I thank the Senator once again for raising this matter.