Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a school (details supplied) in County Wexford which will face serious difficulties as regards learning support provision from September 2011 due to the loss of its resource teachers for Travellers and one language support teacher; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12630/11]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 137: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a school (details supplied) in County Wexford which stands to lose four of its learning support staff from September 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12633/11]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 138: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a school (details supplied) in County Wexford which stands to lose a resource teacher for Travellers from September 2011 despite the fact that the number of Traveller pupils attending the school will actually increase next year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12634/11]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 144: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a school (details supplied) in County Wexford which will lose two resource teachers for Travellers from September 2011, placing enormous pressure on what is left of the special education needs team; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12655/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 134, 137, 138 and 144 together.

I wish to advise the Deputy that the decision to withdraw Resource Teacher for Travellers was taken by the previous Government as part of the last Budget. The requirement to make expenditure savings and to ensure that staffing numbers remain within the Public Service Employment Control Framework prevent me from re-visiting this decision.

Resource Teacher for Traveller posts/Teaching Hours for Traveller pupils will be withdrawn, effective from 31st August 2011. Traveller pupils who are eligible for learning support teaching should receive this tuition through the existing learning support provision in schools. All schools should select students for learning support on the basis of priority of need.

Limited alleviation or adjustment measures are being provided to assist schools that have high concentrations of Traveller pupils who were previously supported by Resource Teachers for Travellers.

In respect of DEIS, (Developing Equality of Opportunity in Schools), Traveller enrolments have been included in the valid enrolment for the purpose of allocating additional staffing under DEIS from the 2011/12 school year. The schools involved have already received their staffing allocations for next year.

For schools other than DEIS schools in receipt of enhanced pupil teacher ratios, alleviation measures are being provided to assist schools with high concentrations of Traveller pupils who were previously supported by RTT posts. Any alleviation measures must be considered in the context of the very limited resources that are available to my Department. As such, alleviation measures are being concentrated on schools which had 33 or more pupils supported by RTT posts, based on 2009/10 school year enrolments.

In respect of language support provision, I wish to clarify for the Deputy that significant support is provided to schools in this regard. The level of extra teaching support provided in respect of language support to any school is determined by the numbers of eligible pupils enrolled and the associated assessed levels of those pupils' language proficiency. This is done through an annual application process in the Spring/Summer of each year. All such applications are currently being processed and schools will be notified of the outcome shortly.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a school (details supplied) in County Wexford which will lose 66% of its learning support from September 2011 due to the withdrawal of the resource teacher for Travellers posts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12631/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the decision to withdraw Resource Teacher for Travellers was taken by the previous Government as part of the last Budget. The requirement to make expenditure savings and to ensure that staffing numbers remain within the Public Service Employment Control Framework prevent me from re-visiting this decision.

Resource Teacher for Traveller posts/Teaching Hours for Traveller pupils will be withdrawn, effective from 31st August 2011. Traveller pupils who are eligible for learning support teaching should receive this tuition through the existing learning support provision in schools. All schools should select students for learning support on the basis of priority of need. Limited alleviation or adjustment measures are being provided to assist schools that have high concentrations of Traveller pupils who were previously supported by Resource Teachers for Travellers.

In respect of DEIS, (Developing Equality of Opportunity in Schools), Traveller enrolments have been included in the valid enrolment for the purpose of allocating additional staffing under DEIS from the 2011/12 school year. The schools involved have already received their staffing allocations for next year.

For schools other than DEIS schools in receipt of enhanced pupil teacher ratios, alleviation measures are being provided to assist schools with high concentrations of Traveller pupils who were previously supported by RTT posts. Any alleviation measures must be considered in the context of the limited resources that are available to my Department. As such, alleviation measures are being concentrated on schools which had 33 or more pupils supported by RTT posts, based on 2009/10 school year enrolments. With regard to schools which have less than 33 Traveller pupils previously supported by RTT posts, within the context of the limited resources which are available and taking into account Government policy and the Employment Control Framework, my Department will consider whether further limited alleviation measures can be provided for schools for whom it can be demonstrated that they have been disproportionately effected by the alleviation/adjustment measures outlined above, in comparison to schools of a similar size and circumstances.