Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 520: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views on correspondence (details supplied); the action he will take to address the concerns expressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9699/09]

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Question 543: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views on correspondence regarding the provision of language support in respect of a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9833/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 520 and 543 together.

My Department is aware of the correspondence referred to by the Deputies and has been in touch with the school concerned. 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.

In light of the Budget 2009 decision a new circular will be published shortly setting out how the new arrangements will operate for the allocation of language support teachers. The budget measures will mean that the level of language support will be reduced from a maximum of six extra teachers per school to a maximum of two teachers per school, as was the case before 2007. However, there will be some alleviation for the position of those schools where there is a significant concentration of newcomer pupils as a proportion of the overall enrolment. Language support posts are allocated during the Spring/Summer period on a provisional basis initially and are confirmed following receipt from the schools in September 2009 of actual enrolments of pupils requiring language support.

We still envisage having over 1,400 language support teaching posts in our primary and post-primary schools in September 2009 and up to about 500 other teachers in part-time posts. By any standards this is a very significant resource and the challenge will be to ensure that it is used to maximum effect.