Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the concern in a local community in relation to a possible reduction in the staffing complement at a school (details supplied) in County Tipperary; if the current school enrolment will be taken into account in deciding the staff numbers in view of the fact that the enrolment has grown since last September; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10892/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on my Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The relevant appointment and retention figures for mainstream staffing for the coming school year have been published on the Department's website. However, the staffing arrangements in schools for the 2012/2013 school year can also be affected by changes in their enrolment, the impact of other budget measures and the reforms to the teacher allocation process. The reform of the allocation process is designed to bring a more equitable distribution of existing posts between schools so there will inevitably be some schools that will lose posts and some schools that will gain posts. My Department has expanded the existing appeals process so that it is accessible to the small schools that are losing a classroom post as a result of the budget measure. Such schools will not lose their classroom post if they are projecting increased enrolments in September 2012 that would be sufficient to allow them to retain their existing classroom posts over the longer term. The detailed arrangements are set out in the Department's Staffing Circular 0007/2012, that is now published on my Department's website. The closing date for submission of appeals for the April meeting of the Staffing Appeal Board is 23 March, 2012.