Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for permission to raise this matter.

I listened to the Minister of State's wisdom about the Fine Gael approach to the economy. It is a pity the Government parties did not listen to us over the past ten years because if they did, we would not be where we are today.

Michael McCarthy (Labour)
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Will the Senator address the Adjournment matter?

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I will. Perhaps that would be much safer.

I refer to the issue of the contracts of librarians employed in the junior certificate school programme, JCSP, in DEIS schools not only in Cork but throughout the country. Last week, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills made an insensitive announcement in the national broadcast and print media that school librarian positions would be terminated even though the librarians themselves had not been informed. It is important in the context of the debate on educational disadvantage to raise the issue in the Seanad, to express opposition and to expose the decision for what it is, which is a short-sighted attack on those who are disadvantaged and vulnerable.

We can never allow a situation where the poor man's university is closed in our schools. If we value education, reading and learning and resourcing our schools, libraries must be retained. Forcing school libraries to shut is a short-sighted and poor approach to education. Many schools are participating in the Demonstration Library project, which is a valuable resource for our schools. I will quote a school librarian who says "I work in [he names the school] where our JCSP library is the heartbeat of the school itself and this is not an exaggeration". Many students who have found the discipline and routine of mainstream education difficult and overwhelming and who find it a struggle to keep going have found that funding for the leaving certificate applied programme has been cut. Libraries and librarians offer them a resource and an environment in which they can access books and other educational resources to allow their curiosity and intellect to be developed in a non-competitive and non-threatening way, contrary to mainstream classrooms and examinations. Librarians teach these students who are challenged the discipline of study and the quest for learning and libraries provide support for schools to address literacy issues.

The librarian who wrote to me states, "I taught English to our weakest stream using the library as a classroom and I do not believe it would have been possible to engage these students for six hours per week if we were in an ordinary classroom environment". I am a former teacher and the library is a haven and a harbour for students before school begins and at lunchtime. They can read books and learn to explore the written word. The library provides discipline and support for homework and study. It is an important vehicle for education delivery not only in weak schools but in all schools. The issue affects 25 to 30 schools in disadvantaged areas. Does the Minister of State think it is right, given the current budgetary constraints, that our most vulnerable should be attacked by the Government?

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator. His strong motivation and his background as a teacher have given him a great appreciation of educational values. I welcome the debate on the issue. I also welcome the opportunity, on behalf of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, to outline the position regarding this matter.

The JCSP has operated in schools nationally since 1996 as an intervention at junior cycle for students who, for a variety of reasons, have experienced difficulties in school and hence are considered to be at risk of leaving school early. The programme is founded on the premise that all young people can be successful at school. It provides a curriculum framework, which assists schools and individual teachers in adopting a student-centred approach to education. Students are given enhanced opportunities to engage with the curriculum and to achieve success at school through a system of profiling of achievement. It covers a broad range of personal and social skills, as well as academic achievements.

Since poor levels of literacy and numeracy have been widely acknowledged as factors that hinder student progress the programme sees the implementation of literacy and numeracy strategies as fundamental. The JCSP support service works with schools to employ classroom strategies to develop students' literacy and numeracy skills and to encourage them to adopt a whole-school approach to literacy and numeracy. This is facilitated by providing teachers with ongoing professional development on cross-curricular approaches to literacy and numeracy as well by the provision of resources annually to support the implementation of specific initiatives in both areas.

Currently the JCSP is offered in 240 schools, 184 of which are DEIS schools, providing support for 9,000 students. More than €3.07 million has been spent on this over the last three years with €1 million being allocated for 2010. The Demonstration Library pilot project, which forms part of the JCSP literacy initiative, provides professionally staffed libraries for JCSP schools. The project was announced as a pilot in 2001, with libraries being set up in 11 JCSP schools in 2002. The Department, through the JCSP support service, provides the support necessary for schools to set up and equip high quality school libraries, develop structured library based strategies with ICT support for JCSP students with literacy difficulties, employ professionally qualified school librarians who work with the teaching staff to develop and implement the JCSP literacy strategy and who are supported by the project librarian and the JCSP support service, and participate in an ongoing monitoring and evaluation process which is a major part of the project. To date, 30 schools have been included in the project, 25 of which are DEIS schools.

The librarians in many of these schools are employed on fixed term contracts and one further school has a vacancy. The remaining schools are either staffed by librarians redeployed from the library service or those with contracts not falling for renewal.

The House will be aware of the Government decision to implement a recruitment and promotion moratorium in the public sector to facilitate a permanent, structural reduction in the numbers of staff serving in the public sector to contribute significant and ongoing savings to the Exchequer. The terms of this moratorium require that no public service post, however arising, may be filled by recruitment, promotion, nor payment of an allowance for the performance of duties at a higher grade. As the Tánaiste has set out, this decision also applies to temporary appointments on a fixed-term basis and to the renewal of such contracts. Exemptions from the moratorium are, in the context of the public finances, a matter for serious deliberation. The Tánaiste is, however, working together with her colleague, the Minister for Finance, in relation to those aspects of the moratorium having a particular impact in the education sector. The issue of librarians employed in the demonstration library pilot project is one such issue and I am pleased to confirm that, having regard to the factors discussed above, it has been decided to retain the library staff for the coming school year.

I thank the Senator for allowing me the opportunity to set out the position on this matter. I repeat how much we value his contribution, given that he comes from a teaching background.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I am very pleased with the Minister of State's third last sentence to the effect that they are being retained. I hope that it will be put on a more substantive footing than just the one-year contract, but I very much welcome the decision to retain the position as it is. Go raibh maith agat.