Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 270: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will provide for substitution cover in respect of uncertified sick leave and outside activities such as sport and field trips which count towards a student's leaving certificate projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45790/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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As a result of the 2009 Budget provisions for Education, arising from current economic challenges, and following subsequent proposals from the management bodies of post-primary schools, new arrangements are being put into place for substitution cover for uncertified sick leave for teachers in post-primary schools and for official school business in post-primary schools.

These arrangements are being put in place with effect from 1 January 2009 and will remain in place for the remainder of the 2008/09 school year while a review of the supervision/substitution 37 hour scheme and related matters takes place.

Each post-primary school will be provided with a defined number of hours of substitution cover outside of the supervision and substitution scheme to provide cover for teacher absences arising from uncertified sick leave and official school business. This will be calculated on the basis of the number of pupils in a school with a minimum number of available hours for all schools with less than 100 pupils.

Thus for the remainder of the school year there will be 16 hours substitution cover allocated for schools with 100 pupils or less, 32 hours for a 200 pupil school and 64 hours for a 400 pupil school, for example.

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.