Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the impact the budget 2009 cutbacks will have on a school (details supplied) in County Mayo; the way he will address the problems which will arise due to the cutbacks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45425/08]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 211: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the impact the budget 2009 cutbacks will have on a school (details supplied) in County Mayo; the way he will address the problems which will arise due to the cutbacks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45426/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 210 and 211 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. I fully accept that these decisions are not of themselves desirable and that they can only be justified by the imperative of securing the future economic stability of the country. I have called for co-operation from all the education partners in meeting the challenges facing us both as an education community and as a country.

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 and 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 create staffing or funding profiles for the individual schools requested by the Deputy, information which at this time could only be speculative, could not be justified and would in fact impede the process.

I am confident that as the global economy improves it will be possible to build again on the significant achievements of recent years and do so in a manner consistent with overall prudent management of the Irish economy.