Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1537: 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. [1475/09]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1538: 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. [1476/09]

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1542: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the effects of Budget 2009 cutbacks on a secondary school (details supplied) in County Mayo, particularly as the school has yet to be informed as to the situation they will face from 7 January 2009 and thereafter; if immediate clarification will be made on the effects of the Budget to this school. [1480/09]

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 1582: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the changes, following Budget 2009, to the staffing levels of a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; the reduction in the grants to the school for 2008/2009 regarding the funding level in 2007/2008; the educational schemes for which support has been cut for this school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1888/09]

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 1583: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the changes, following Budget 2009, to the staffing levels of a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; the reduction in the grants to the school for 2008-2009 regarding the funding level in 2007-2008; the educational schemes for which support has been cut for this school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1889/09]

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 1584: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the changes, following Budget 2009, to the staffing levels of a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; the reduction in the grants to the school for 2008-2009 regarding the funding level in 2007-2008; the educational schemes for which support has been cut for this school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1890/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1537, 1538, 1542 and 1582 to 1584, inclusive, 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 is currently finalising the position of individual schools in relation to their staffing and grant allocations.

The staffing 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, which is a transparent and clear way of ensuring that schools are treated consistently and fairly and know where they stand.

In relation to the school book grant, this grant is now 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, €28.8 million will be made available in 2009, compared with a 2008 estimate of €33.8 million. 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.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1539: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the effects of Budget 2009 on a school (details supplied) in County Mayo, with particular reference to their teacher numbers, resource grant and rural co-ordinator; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1477/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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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 in relation to both staffing and grant levels 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 allocations. 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. The preparatory work for staffing allocations has commenced with the processing of enrolment data that has been received from schools. The staffing allocation processes including notification to schools will commence shortly. The allocation process includes appellate mechanisms under which schools can appeal against the allocation due to them under the staffing schedules. 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 net impact of the budget measures on aggregate levels or teacher numbers in schools for the 2009/10 school year. I can do this when the allocation process has been completed. At this time the priority for my Department within the resources available to it is to carry out these processes in a timely manner. Diverting resources in order to create staffing or funding profiles for the school referred to be the Deputy could not be justified and would in fact impede the process.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1540: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will reverse the decision to cut the staffing levels of a school (details supplied) in County Mayo, in view of the effect this will have which will result in a 50% reduction in the present staff level. [1478/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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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. 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.

When the country was able to afford it we reduced the basis on which primary teachers are allocated to schools from being based on an average number of primary pupils per teacher from 35 pupils in 1995/96 down to the current level of 27 pupils. This is reflected in the improvements that we have made on class sizes over the years and these improvements reflect our commitment to education. The change to a new average of 28 pupils per teacher from September 2009 has to be viewed in that context. Although it reverses some of the progress that we have made in recent years I had no option but to curtail the annual increase in teacher numbers. The reduced class sizes for the most disadvantaged in our DEIS schools of an average of 1 teacher for every 20 pupils in Junior classes and an average of 1 teacher for every 24 pupils in Senior classes are not affected by the Budget decision.

While the budget measures will impact on class sizes it will be necessary in the more testing economic climate ahead for us to continue to target and prioritise our resources to maximum effect for everyone. While teacher numbers are important numerous influential reports have highlighted the fact that teacher quality is the single most important factor — far and above anything else — in improving educational outcomes for children. Ensuring high quality teaching and learning is a challenge and dealing with factors that inhibit it represent a challenge for the Government, the Department, school management and indeed the teacher unions.

My Department will be advising individual schools in the normal way in relation to their staffing 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 shortly. 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.

While it is appreciated that the discontinuation of concessionary disadvantaged posts will impact on the affected schools, given the current volatile and challenging economic climate, difficult decisions had to be made in order to contain public sector spending. One of these decisions was to advance the withdrawal of such supports from non DEIS schools to the beginning of the next school year.

The main focus of Social Inclusion measures will be to retain resources in DEIS schools. There is a need to focus targeted resources on the schools in most need and this approach is in line with the broad thrust of the recommendations of the Comptroller and Auditor General which are set out in his report on Primary Disadvantage of 2006, which recommended that my Department should focus its educational disadvantage measures on those schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.

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.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1541: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the effect of the Budget 2009 cutbacks on a primary school (details supplied) in County Mayo, with particular regard to teacher numbers, equipment grant for learning support teachers and cutbacks in in-service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1479/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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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 in relation to both staffing and grant levels 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 allocations. 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. The preparatory work for staffing allocations has commenced with the processing of enrolment data that has been received from schools. The staffing allocation processes including notification to schools will commence shortly. The allocation process includes appellate mechanisms under which schools can appeal against the allocation due to them under the staffing schedules. 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 net impact of the budget measures on aggregate levels or teacher numbers in schools for the 2009/10 school year. I can do this when the allocation process has been completed. At this time the priority for my Department within the resources available to it is to carry out these processes in a timely manner. Diverting resources in order to create staffing or funding profiles for the school referred to be the Deputy could not be justified and would in fact impede the process.