Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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Question 1214: To ask the Minister for Education and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 442 of 26 May 2009, if sanction for the recruitment of a replacement caretaker has been given. [29635/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is of course aware of the Government decision to implement a recruitment and promotion moratorium in the public sector. In the VECs, positions other than teacher and SNA posts in schools, and teacher equivalents that are directly providing tuition to pupils in schools, in special programmes or in an adult and further education, are comprehended by this decision.

In the case of the replacement caretaker referred to by the Deputy, my Department obtained the sanction of the Minister for Finance for a limited derogation to apply. In that regard approval was given to Co. Kildare VEC to award a fixed term contract to one person to act in a temporary capacity. The contract was awarded on the basis that its duration was limited to the period of the Certificate Examinations in June 2009, and accordingly the sanction has now expired. My Department has recently requested approval from the Department of Finance for the exemption from the moratorium in this case to be continued. However, the Department of Finance has confirmed that the moratorium applies to VECs and therefore Co. Kildare VEC, like all other public sector organisations, will have to make arrangements to continue to provide the best level of service it can manage within the resources available to it.