Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which the budget 2009 reduction proposals are expected to result in an increased pupil-teacher ratio on a county basis at all schools here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44287/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 15: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the extent to which recently announced reductions in funding for education are expected to result in a reduction of teachers in schools on a county basis here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44286/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 15 together.

I have consistently said that 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. The various impacts at school level were included in the Budget day announcements including the projected net impact on teacher numbers in primary and post-primary schools.

Clearly a net reduction in the number of teachers, while relatively small in terms of the overall number of teachers that will continue to be employed in our schools, will of course impact to some degree on the pupil teacher ratio in a situation where enrolments are rising. This applies to the ratio for the country as a whole in the primary and post-primary sectors and will apply at individual county level also. There may be some differences between counties depending on the distribution of the projected increase in enrolments.

I have already put it on record that I have no difficulty in setting out for this House or for the public generally what the final impact will be on the overall changes on aggregate teacher numbers in schools for the 2009/10 school year and this applies to final pupil teacher ratios as well. I have nothing to hide here. I have been upfront with the Irish people in relation to these measures and I am not claiming in any way that there will be no impact on the staffing position in schools generally but this will vary from school to school and there will be schools where the number of teachers will remain the same. I have however taken issue with some of the extreme claims that are being made about the overall impact.

I will set out the final position when the allocation processes have been completed. The allocation processes including notification to schools will commence early in the New Year. The allocation process includes appellate mechanisms under which schools can appeal against the allocation due to them under the staffing schedules. 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. The appellate process is particularly relevant at post-primary level where any specific curricular needs of the school concerned are considered. Also at post-primary there is no effective system wide redeployment scheme at present and this can mean that schools retain teachers, though over quota.

For the moment the priority for my Department is to move ahead with the allocation processes and begin the interaction with individual schools early in the new year and I do not propose to divert staff to engage in producing estimated or hypothetical outcomes for individual counties.