Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The provision is not there to save on pay. We have increased the number of teachers and have committed to continuing that in the years ahead and are trying to match the demographics. We must have some organised system to facilitate redeployment and other issues. The system is based on 30 September, but there is a provision in respect of where there is rapid development in an area. That is allowed for and the system has worked quite well. I have not come across many cases where schools have felt they were left short. I will certainly raise the Senator's suggestion with the Department. I have watched how the Department operates over the past 18 months and it is constantly looking at new ways to deal with the issues.