Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 120: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the degree to which the full requirements in respect of speech and language teaching have been determined; the extent to which these requirements are expected to be met now and in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19456/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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It would appear that the Deputy is referring to the arrangements that are applying for 2011/12 to Language Support Teachers in schools.

A phased reduction in the number of Language Support Teachers was one of a number of measures introduced in Budget 2011 in order to contain the cost of the public sector wage bill. However, due to increased pressure on teacher numbers, it has proved necessary to apply a reduction greater than planned. This measure is necessary to ensure that the terms of agreement with EU/IMF are adhered to. Schools that made application, where more than 25% of the enrolment would qualify for language support, have had their applications assessed on the basis of the same criteria as last year. However, for schools with less than 25% of the school population requiring language support, only those pupils requiring language support for their first or second year counted for the purpose of determining their allocation.

The criteria on the number of children outlined in Circular 15/2009 still applies, i.e. the first post is granted where there are 14 to 30 eligible children, the second post granted for between 31 and 90 children, the third post granted for between 91 and 120 eligible children, and the fourth post for between 91 and 120 eligible children. Applications for part-time language support posts will be considered in the autumn. Decisions on this issue are framed in the context of the Employment Control Framework under the EU/IMF agreement.