Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 86: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will make changes or withdraw circular 0019/2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5710/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The process of allocating teaching resources to schools for 2011/2012 and the arrangements for filling vacant or new teaching posts takes place in the context of the EU/IMF Programme of Support for Ireland and the Public Service Agreement 2010/2014. It is necessary for my Department to exercise additional control and reporting measures this year to ensure that the numbers of teachers employed in schools is consistent with the EU/IMF Programme of Support for Ireland.

It is necessary therefore, for my Department to ensure this year that all permanent and fixed term positions are in the first instance made available to those surplus teachers with either permanent contracts or contracts of indefinite duration and are to be redeployed. This means that until further notice no school can be given authority to commence recruitment until my Department is in a position to assess the number of these teachers, if any, that remain to be redeployed.

It is the intention of the Department to restore recruitment from fixed-term teachers on the main panels, supplementary panels or public advertisement at the earliest possible opportunity, after all the surplus permanent teachers have been redeployed. The Government will endeavour to protect frontline education services as best as possible. However, this must be done within the context of bringing our overall public expenditure into line with what we can afford as a country. We all have to understand the legacy of economic mismanagement which the last government gave to this country.