Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 378: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if reconsideration will be given to a school (details supplied) in County Kildare who may lose a staff teacher on foot of recent educational budget cuts by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38722/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The 2009 Budget required difficult choices to be made across all areas of public expenditure. These decisions were made to control public expenditure and to ensure sustainability in the long run. In this respect education while protected to a much greater extent than most other areas of public expenditure could not be totally spared.

Prudent management of the Government finances is particularly important at this time of global economic uncertainty when tax revenue has fallen so significantly and when world economic conditions are so serious. Even with the Budget measures in place there will still be a significantly increased borrowing requirement in 2009.

The Government's commitment to education is clear both from its track record over the past decade in providing substantial additional resources, most notably extra teachers to meet previously unmet needs and from the programme the Government set for itself when it came into office. A lot has changed in the past year and the first and foremost imperative is that we stabilise the public finances. It is only by doing so that we can shelter gains made and put ourselves in the position of being able to make improvements in the future.

The specific information requested by the Deputy in relation to the detailed staffing allocation of the school in question for the academic year 2009/10 cannot be determined until the allocation process has fully concluded. There is nothing exceptional in this. The allocation process includes appellate mechanisms under which schools can appeal against the allocation due to them under the staffing schedules. At primary level the final allocation to a school is also a function of the operation of the redeployment panels which provide for the retention of a teacher in an existing school if a new post is not available within the agreed terms of the scheme.

Schools are currently returning data to my Department in relation to their enrolment as of 30 September. My Department has commenced processing this data although all schools have not yet made their returns. The allocation processes including notification to schools will commence early in the New Year.