Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will confirm details of the announcement made on 4 December 2008 in respect of substitution in second level schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45543/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I announced last Thursday that proposals had been made to my Department by the second-level management bodies identifying annual savings of €16 million within the supervision and substitution scheme. These savings can be made not only in the current year but on a continuing basis.

The proposals involve replacing heretofore demand-led availability of cover for uncertified sick leave and official school business, costing €21 million per annum, with an allocated or budgeted scheme costing €5 million per annum.

On the basis of these proposals and discussions between the management bodies and my Department, I outlined that I am making available €2.7 million to second-level schools for the remainder of this school year. This will provide each school with a limited number of hours of substitution cover outside of the supervision and substitution scheme.

There will also be a full review of the substitution and supervision scheme in conjunction with the school management bodies and teacher unions during this school year with a view to making up this additional €2.7 million expenditure and thereby ensuring that the budgetary parameters are met.

The implementation of the proposals made by the second-level management bodies will, over the balance of the current school year, provide a new basis for managing the use of substitution cover for school business and enable schools manage unpredictable teacher absences due to uncertified sick leave.