Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Irish to follow.

David Norris (Independent)
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I thank Senator Ó Clochartaigh for this opportunity. Incidentally, I note that while I can usually understand Members who speak in Irish, the Senator spoke very fast and so I listened to the translation. I compliment the translator because the manner in which he kept up was superb.

I raised this issue earlier, which is the reason Senator Ó Clochartaigh generously offered me a little time on this issue. The points I made were that in the first instance, it is a unique location. Second, this school has distinguished itself in an extraordinary manner by winning prizes, such as second prize in the Ericsson national science competition. This tiny little school, located out on Inis Meáin on the Aran Islands, has won several other distinctions and had been praised highly by the Department's own inspectorate. The population there fluctuates and by September of next year, it will again have risen above eight pupils. The special rule was made by a previous Government that the qualifying level should be reduced for the special circumstances that apply on the Aran Islands. Senator Ó Clochartaigh and I are worried this may be altering. I see the Minister of State is shaking his head and I am glad to put that on the record. Well done. However, the number of pupils will rise to eight again and it is vital this school is maintained, regardless of whether the numbers fluctuate. My clinching argument is those pupils feed into the secondary school, which is a major and comparatively recent achievement for this island. It would be appalling if, in circumstances in which islanders have just reached the point at which children are not obliged to travel to the mainland, they must recommence so doing, because that would dishearten the islanders. There is a very strong case in this regard.

I visited the Aran Islands during the presidential campaign and was on Inis Mór, to which I had not been previously. While listening to people there, the point they were making was they are a special case and I believe this to be true. If one is committed to the preservation of something that is extremely precious in respect of our natural, cultural heritage and of our way of life, special conditions must operate. In conjunction with Senator Ó Clochartaigh, to whom I am grateful for the opportunity to say these few words, I appeal to the Minister of State to preserve this school and to make special arrangements.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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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.

Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein)
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Irish to follow.

David Norris (Independent)
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I totally support what Senator Ó Clochartaigh has said. If we can find a way, let us do it. This is an obvious fudge concerning language support. They are speaking the language there and do not need language support. They are not people in Blackrock or Foxrock, so let us have another little fudge and get the teacher retained.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Fudging in certain areas might have got us into some of the current mess, though not all of it. The appeals process that was established to deal with the new budgetary arrangements around small rural schools was effectively put there to assess whether the enrolment in a particular school was trending upwards or downwards. If it could be proven conclusively that the enrolment was trending upwards, the school was essentially allowed to retain the teacher it was due to lose.

If Scoil Inis Meáin could supply us with evidence - it should be straightforward to do so on an island - of its likely enrolments in the coming years, 2012 to 2014, I will undertake to at least examine those numbers and see it they justify retention. We have gone a long way down an independent process, however, over which the Minister has no influence whatsoever. Nonetheless, I will certainly undertake to re-examine the case if that evidence is submitted to the Department.