James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 415: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, on behalf of a school (details supplied) in County Longford he will reverse the cutbacks outlined in budget 2009, which will impact adversely on the weakest in their community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44758/08]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 416: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the effect of the budget 2009 cutbacks on a secondary school (details supplied) in County Mayo, with particular regard to teacher numbers, book grant and cutbacks in in-service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44774/08]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 439: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the effect of the budget 2009 cutbacks on a secondary school (details supplied) in County Mayo, with particular regard to teacher numbers, the book grant, cutbacks in in-service, sporting activities, school music, field trips and student exchanges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45076/08]

Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 466: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his proposals to meet the concerns of a parents association (details supplied) in County Waterford regarding the education cutbacks in budget 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45342/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 415, 416, 439 and 466 together.

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, the education sector, 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. Even with the Budget measures in place there will still be a significantly increased borrowing requirement in 2009.

My Department will be advising individual schools in the normal way in relation to their staffing and grant allocations. The preparatory work for this has commenced with the processing of enrolment data that has been received from schools. The staffing 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. In addition to the mainstream classroom teachers, my Department also allocates teaching resources to schools for special needs and language support. 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.

I have no difficulty in setting out for this House or for the public generally the overall changes on aggregate teacher numbers or on grant levels in schools for the 2009/10 school year. I will do this when the allocation processes have been completed. Furthermore, the staffing schedule will be published; it is a transparent and clear way of ensuring that schools are treated consistently and fairly and know where they stand.

At this time, the priority for my Department within the resources available to it is to carry out those processes in a timely manner. Diverting resources in order to compile either historic information or to create staffing or funding profiles for individual schools requested by the Deputies, information which at this time could only be speculative, could not be justified and would in fact impede the process.

In relation to the school book grant, from 2009 this grant will be available only to schools within the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) scheme. By limiting the school book grant to schools within the DEIS scheme, savings of €7.5m will be achieved.

DEIS is the action plan for educational inclusion and focuses on addressing the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities.

Approximately €7 million was made available in 2008 to DEIS schools at primary and post-primary level for the school book grant scheme; this fund of €7 million will be made available for distribution to schools in the DEIS programme in 2009. The continuation of the school book grant to these schools is testament to the Government's determination to prioritise social inclusion and protect the most vulnerable in our society.

My Department continues to urge schools to implement book rental schemes as a measure to minimise the cost of school books to all parents. This was the recommendation of a consultancy report, submitted to my Department in 1993, which dealt with the factors which contribute to the cost of school text books. The report, copies of which were sent to all schools, contains a number of useful suggestions, including a Code of Good Practice for successful operation of book rental schemes. My Department fully endorses the report's recommendations.

In relation to the provision for teacher in-service education support, €28.8m will be made available in 2009, compared with a 2008 estimate of €33.8m. It is intended to reduce teacher secondments to in-service and, while it will be possible to continue to provide a wide range of services to teachers, the reduced allocation will mean that programmes that are not in an expansionary or prioritised phase will have to be curtailed to a degree.

In relation to sporting activities, school musicals, field trips and student exchanges, I refer the Deputies to my statement to the House on Thursday 4th December 2008 in response to a Priority Parliamentary Question. I believe that the proposal which I outlined to the House will ensure that such activities will continue in our second level schools in 2009 pending a full review of the substitution and supervision scheme in conjunction with the school management bodies and teacher unions.