Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 260: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will confirm that his Department's prior written approval for job sharing or a career break from post-primary schools is required in order that a vacancy arising from a job sharing arrangement can be funded by his Department in excess of the authorised teaching allocation as determined by the pupil teacher ratio and that as a result of the change in the staffing schedule, this will effectively mean for schools who are on or over the quota, that the teachers within that school who are job sharing or have approved career breaks will be forced back into the classroom from 1 September 2009; if he has estimated the potential costs that this will have on his Department in view of the fact that substitute or replacement teachers are frequently paid a lower rate than existing permanent teachers who may be job sharing or on a career break; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6511/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The decision to approve job-sharing and career-break applications is a matter for the authorities of the employing school. In the case of schools that have over-quota teachers, vacancies do not arise as a result of teachers approved for job-sharing or career break. This position is no different from that pertaining in previous years.

In these schools that have over-quota teachers, applications for job-sharing and a career break may be considered by the authorities of the schools concerned in the normal way. Because the school is over its allocation of teachers my department will not give automatic replacements. It is, of course, open to the school authority to apply to my Department for additional teaching hours by way of curricular concessions to cover part or all of the hours in respect of an approved job-sharer/career break teacher. Each such application is considered on its merits.