Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the concerns of a school (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7656/12]

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to concerns regarding the future of a school (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7659/12]

Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 204: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will detail the effect that the changes to staffing schedules for schools with less than four teachers as outlined in budget 2012 will have on two teacher schools; if he will detail what will happen when such a school is in line to lose a teacher, in view of the fact that departmental guidelines state that you cannot have a one teacher school; if he foresees the closure of such schools or does he envisage a situation whereby there will be one teacher schools or some other arrangement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7682/12]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the retention of a teacher at a school (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7889/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 201, 202, 204 and 223 together.

My Department will be notifying schools in the coming weeks of the new staffing arrangements for the 2012/13 school year. It will include detail of the staffing appeals process and appeal criterion for those small schools that are projecting increased enrolments that would be sufficient to allow them to retain their existing classroom posts over the longer term.

As part of the Budget 2012 decisions, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools will be gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014. Even when all of these phased increases are implemented, the threshold for small schools will still be significantly lower than the minimum of 28 pupils that was required for the appointment of a second teacher in schools prior to the mid-1990s.

The phasing of these measures can provide the schools concerned with time to consider the potential for amalgamation with other schools where this is feasible. If amalgamations take place, they will be voluntary and follow decisions taken by local communities and not by my Department.