Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 436: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will ensure that a school (details supplied) in County Donegal will not lose a teacher in view of its status in a disadvantaged, Irish speaking, island community; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8396/09]

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 450: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the primary schools in County Limerick which will lose teachers in 2009-2010; the number of such teachers in each school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8563/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 436 and 450 together.

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.

The budget measures will impact on individual schools in different ways depending on whether enrolment is rising or declining and the degree to which any one school has more teachers than it is entitled to under the allocation processes.

In terms of the position at individual school level the key factor for determining the level of resources provided by my Department is the pupil enrolment at 30 September 2008. The annual process of seeking this enrolment data from schools took place in the autumn and the data has since been received and processed in my Department enabling the commencement of the processes by which teaching resources are allocated to schools for the school year that begins next September.

My Department has written to the primary schools that are projected to have a net loss or gain in classroom teaching posts in September, 2009. As part of my efforts to ensure that relevant information is openly available to the public detailed information on the opening position for primary schools is now published on my Department's website. This provisional list sets out the details on individual schools that, taken collectively, are projected to gain 128 posts and to lose 382 posts — a net reduction of 254 posts. It is my intention to have this information updated and ultimately to set out the final position when the allocation processes are completed.

The above allocations are provisional at this stage and reflect the initial allocation position. The final position for any one school will depend on a number of other factors such as additional posts for schools that are developing rapidly and posts allocated as a result of the appeals processes.

The operation of redeployment arrangements also impacts on the final position as a teacher can remain in his or her existing school where a suitable redeployment position does not exist. The final staffing position for all schools will therefore not be known until the autumn. At that stage the allocation process will be fully completed for mainstream classroom teachers and any appeals to the Staffing Appeals Board will have been considered.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 437: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of staff he allocated towards the management of each subject and curriculum within the second level support service in 2007; the proposed number of staff he will allocate towards this service in the year 2009-2010; the measures he is taking to encourage the take-up of science subjects within the second level support service; if he will account for any change in the number of staff employed between 2007 and 2009-2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8397/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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In the school year 2007-2008 there were 48 secondees to the Second Level Support Service, (SLSS) offering support across a wide range of subject areas in the post primary sector. This number reduced by one in the 2008-2009 school year. In 2009-2010 it is envisaged that there will be 53 secondees within the Second Level Support Service as per the following table.

Overall across the various services at post primary level there were 156 secondees to the second level sector in 2007/2008, this reduced to 138 in 2008-2009 as a result of five of the services being integrated into SLSS because they had completed their intensive phase of in service. Further integration from September of this year will see the 2009-2010 number of secondees reduce slightly to 130 at post primary level.

My Department is currently reviewing the various supports offered to teachers in the context of the resources that are available to me. As part of this exercise, the SLSS is being restructured and other services are folding into its remit. I am mindful of the need to ensure that we continue to make support available to the sciences. To this end, my Department is examining the ways in which this might be done by leveraging the capacity which currently exists within the sector, thus ensuring that a wide range of support for all teachers will remain from September 2009.

It should be emphasised that the role of the SLSS is to provide support to teachers across subject areas rather than the promotion of the take up of any subject.