Written answers

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

Department of Education and Science

Institutes of Technology

9:00 pm

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 1017: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the arrangements he has made with the chief executive officer of the Higher Education Authority to resolve the difficulties that have arisen from the public sector staff moratorium in the higher education sector; the difficulties that have arisen regarding the Dublin Institute of Technology; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48461/09]

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, 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 in the public sector 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 Deputy will appreciate that the sector has to contribute towards overall public sector numbers reductions.

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 and review by the HEA and both my Department and the Department of Finance. 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.

Following discussions at the employment control framework monitoring committee, a revised framework has recently been agreed between my Department and the Department of Finance, and has been conveyed to the Higher Education Authority for application in the higher education system. This revised framework provides institutions with a greater flexibility around recruitment in the filling of posts, on the basis of meeting a required overall reduction in posts.

It is a matter for the individual higher education institutions, including Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), to manage their staffing resources in the context of implementing the framework. In the case of DIT, I would consider that the extra flexibility now afforded to all institutions, will facilitate them in dealing with the particular issues that have arisen in that case.

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