Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 596: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reduction in staffing in the primary sector, second level and the third level in 2009 as compared to 2008; the areas of teaching in which cuts have been made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36835/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department has published provisional information on the Department's website about teacher allocations at primary and post-primary level for 2009/10 school year. This was done as a first step at improving the level of information in the public domain about changes to the staffing allocations at both primary and post-primary level. The purpose of the Government decision to implement a recruitment and promotion moratorium in the public sector is to facilitate a permanent, structural reduction in the numbers of staff serving and is intended to contribute significant and ongoing savings to the Exchequer. In applying this moratorium generally, teaching and research activities in the education sector have been afforded significant exemptions relative to other areas of public expenditure. Nonetheless, the sector has to contribute towards overall public sector numbers reductions.

The Government is already prioritising the filling of teacher and special needs assistants posts. When the Government was introducing the moratorium in the public sector earlier this year I secured a special arrangement for education which ensured we could fill teacher and SNA posts. The concession also provides for the filling of principal and deputy principal posts in all schools and the first allocation of posts of responsibility in new schools.

With regard to staffing at third level, numbers employed fluctuate as recruitment by the higher education institutions occurs throughout the year. Therefore, the final position on the numbers employed in 2009 compared to 2008 will not be available until early 2010 when returns are made by the institutions. In the area of higher education, the Government agreed that an employment control framework be developed to provide for the application of the moratorium arrangements to higher education institutions, subject to the continued oversight by my Department and the Department of Finance. This framework allows flexibility around recruitment into posts that are considered essential to maintaining core teaching and research activities, subject to an overall ceiling on numbers employed.

The Government is anxious to work with the publicly funded higher education institutions in achieving necessary reductions in public expenditure within the sector as an essential part of overall budgetary strategy. The employment control framework aims to enable this while providing sufficient flexibility for the protection of frontline teaching and research activities. The renewed programme for Government commits the Government to no further increase in the pupil teacher ratio in primary and second level schools for the lifetime of this Government. It also states that we will provide 500 teaching posts between primary and second levels over the next three years. My Department proposes to structure a consultation process through meetings with the education partners in the coming weeks in accordance with the commitment to consultation as set out in the renewed programme.