Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will confirm that out of the estimated 1,200 posts due to be cut in June in the primary and post primary sectors, almost 800 will have a direct impact on children from a Traveller background. [14466/11]

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Resource Teacher for Traveller posts/Teaching Hours for Traveller pupils will be withdrawn, effective from 31st August 2011.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 have been provided to assist schools that have high concentrations of Traveller pupils who were previously supported by Resource Teachers for Travellers.

The expected budgetary target reduction in the number of Resource Teacher for Traveller Posts/Teaching Hours for Travellers, based on estimated provision for 2011, was 723 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) posts. As at the end of January 2011, in respect of the 2010/2011 school year, the actual number of Resource Teachers for Travellers employed amounted to a total of 709.54 WTE posts nationwide. The number of Whole Time Equivalent post savings in respect of the withdrawal of RTT posts will therefore be 709.54 posts. This will be offset by any alleviation or adjustment posts allocated. 119 such posts have been allocated to date.

My Department will also consider whether further limited alleviation measures can be provided for schools who have not received alleviation or adjustment measures to date and for whom it can be demonstrated that they have been disproportionately effected by the decision to withdraw Resource Teacher for Traveller posts, in comparison to schools of a similar size and circumstances. Under the National Recovery Plan 2011-2014, the Visiting Teachers Service for Travellers (VTST) will also be discontinued from September 2011. 40 Whole Time equivalent posts will be withdrawn as a result of this measure.

Work is ongoing in the Department to identify what can be done within the limits of remaining resources, to address the acknowledged ongoing needs of the Traveller community. The VTST is managed by the National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) as part of the Integration of Education Services alongside the School Completion Programme (SCP), the Home School Community Liaison Service (HSCL) and the Education Welfare Service (EWS). Responsibility for the NEWB and its services has transferred to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs with effect from May 2011. Our two departments will work together to ensure that the services in the NEWB, including the SCP, the HSCL and the EWS will have a renewed focus to more effectively target and support children at risk, including Traveller children.