Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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Question 211: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the decision to remove the Master's degree allowance for teachers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9149/12]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 233: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will reverse the decision to suspend all allowances to new entrant teachers, which will see them earning 30% less than their peers. [9409/12]

Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 236: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will reverse the decision to cut allowances to new teachers in recognition of the fact that it expects new teachers to carry out the same amount of duties for substantially less pay than their counterparts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9428/12]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 265: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding new teaching graduates. [9883/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 211, 233, 236 and 265 together.

A public service-wide review of allowances, announced by the Government as part of Budget 2012, is currently being led by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Under Circular 70/2011 teachers who had been engaged in a public sector teaching post on or before 4 December 2011 are eligible to retain the allowances they were entitled to be in receipt of on that date. Such teachers will not be paid any additional allowance where they acquire any further qualification on or after 5 December 2011. The position of teachers who, on 5 December 2011, were undertaking courses will be considered in the context of the review.

Teachers who were new entrants to teaching between 5 December 2011 and 31 January 2012 are eligible for allowances on the basis of their qualifications at entry to the profession to a maximum of the allowance applicable to an honours primary degree/pass masters degree at that time.

Circular 3/2012 provides that allowances are not payable to new beneficiaries; i.e. those who become eligible for receipt of the allowance in question on or after 1 February 2012. Examples of such allowances include any form of qualification allowance or the supervision and substitution payment paid to teachers, and the secretary to the Board of Management allowance paid to school principals. The only exceptions to this prohibition are principal and deputy principal allowances. These decisions were taken pending the outcome of the public service-wide review of allowances and due to the upward pressure on the cost of teacher allowances. Without immediate action, this upward pressure would have cancelled out the savings made elsewhere in the education system and would bring about even harsher adjustments to schools and services than has been seen in the recent budgets. I am not in a position to comment further on the position in relation to teacher allowances until the outcome of the public service-wide review of allowances is known.