Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

Táim ag tógail an ghnó an tráth seo thar ceann mo chomhleacaí, an t-Aire Oideachais agus Scileanna, an Teachta Ruairí Quinn. I thank the Senator for giving me an opportunity to talk about the staffing appeals process for primary schools.

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 pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule for the 2012-13 school year was published on my Department's website and includes an appeals mechanism for schools to submit an appeal under certain criteria to an independent appeals board. Details of the criteria for appeal are contained in my Department Staffing Circular 0007/2012.

As part of the new staffing arrangements my Department has expanded the existing appeals process so that it is accessible to the small primary schools that are losing a classroom post as a result of the budget measure. Such schools will not lose their classroom post if they are projecting increased enrolments in September 2012 that would be sufficient to allow them to retain their existing classroom posts over the longer term.

The school referred to by the Senator is in the Gaeltacht. It submitted an appeal to the staffing appeals board. All appeals submitted to the primary staffing appeals board were considered in accordance with the published appeals criteria. This was done at its meeting on 18 and 19 April. The appeal by the school referred to by the Senator was unsuccessful on the basis that the school did not meet the published appeal criteria. The board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. However, the appeals board will review this decision if the school's actual enrolment in September 2012 increases to the required level.

A total of 367 schools submitted appeals to the appeals board of which 205 schools had their appeals upheld by the staffing appeals board. A summary outcome of the appeals is now published on my Department's website. Individual schools have been notified of the outcome of their appeals. The next meeting of staffing appeals board is due to be held on 14 June 2012. The latest date for other schools to submit appeals is 1 June 2012.

The final staffing position for all schools will ultimately not be known until the autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed and all appeals to the staffing appeals board will have been considered.