Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 502: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views on the way the contents of correspondence (details supplied) can be addressed to the satisfaction of those who supplied the submission in relation to class sizes, transition year, leaving certificate applied, book schemes and educational travel and so on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46125/08]

Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 507: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he can justify a cut of €1.05 million to a college (details supplied) in County Galway and expect the delivery of education services at the same high standard developed there over the years. [46164/08]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 524: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the impact the cutbacks in education spending will have on a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath, and in particular the impact of the loss of teachers in the school due to the increase in pupil-teacher ratio of 2.6 teachers equivalents the loss of disadvantaged allocation one teacher equivalent, the loss of leaving certificate applied and transition year grants, and the loss of the grants for travelling children, together with the loss of the book grant and adverse impacts for the school concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46338/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 502, 507 and 524 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 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. 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 and Vocational Education Committees 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 compile either historic information or to create staffing or funding profiles for individual schools or VECs, information which at this time could only be speculative, could not be justified and would in fact impede the process.