Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn. I thank both Senators for giving me the opportunity to outline for the House the position relating to the staffing of Inis Meáin national school for the coming school year 2012-13.

The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools are published annually on my Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the national staffing schedule for the relevant school year and the specific pupil enrolments in the school in question on 30 September in the previous year. As both Senators suggested, within these arrangements there is special provision for island schools that takes account of the circumstances identified by the Senators, which arise in respect of providing education in a unique island setting. This special provision means that unlike the generality of schools, in the event that a reduction in the pupil numbers of an island school will result in the loss of the second or third classroom teaching post in the school, the post may be retained subject to certain pupil retention levels. Members should bear in mind these are unique to island schools. In the case of the second mainstream post, the total number of pupils must be at eight or above and the school must be the only primary school remaining on the island.

The pupil enrolment in scoil náisiúnta Inis Meáin for 30 September 2011 was six pupils, compared with nine pupils in September 2010. Under the published staffing schedule, this reduces the staffing level in the school for the 2012-13 school year from a two-teacher to a one-teacher school. In addition, the school also is entitled to ten hours per week of general allocation and language support teaching support. The school submitted an appeal to the primary staffing appeals board. All appeals submitted to the primary staffing appeals board are considered in accordance with published appeal criteria. The appeal by the school was unsuccessful on the basis that the school did not meet the published appeal criteria. The appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final.

Lest there be any confusion, I should clarify that the budgetary changes that were applied to small schools generally this year are not relevant in this case. The situation that has arisen in this school, triggered by the fall in enrolment to six pupils, would have given rise to the same outcome in previous years and would have been subject to the same appeal criteria. Likewise, the new appeal criteria introduced for small schools arising from the budget measure are not relevant. As the only primary school on Inis Meáin, the scoil náisiúnta was not affected by the budget measure at all. By way of comparison, the small schools that were affected by the budget measure are required to be projecting at least 17 pupils in September 2012 to be able to retain provisionally their second teacher in a two-teacher school. The retention criterion for scoil náisiúnta Inis Meáin was eight pupils, which it did not meet.

Consequently, the second teacher in the school submitted an application to my Department on 23 March 2012 to be redeployed through the normal redeployment arrangements for primary school teachers. Under the redeployment arrangements, a panel officer was appointed by my Department, at the request of the patron, to assist with this process. The recommendation of a panel officer is binding. The panel officer has recommended that the teacher be redeployed to a shared general allocation-language support post to be based in her current school on Inis Meáin and serving the learning-language support needs of Scoil Inis Meáin and Scoil Naomh Caomháin on Inis Oirr.

I understand my Department was informed earlier this week that this proposal is not acceptable to the teacher or to the board of management of scoil Inis Meáin.

The public service, Croke Park agreement 2010-14, makes provision for the redeployment of public servants. The provisions of that agreement in relation to redeployment are now, in effect, contractual in relation to public servants covered by the agreement. The Croke Park agreement provides a guarantee of job security for permanent teachers contingent on flexible redeployment arrangements. The continuation of salary is only possible where any new appointment is accepted once offered.