Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for altering the pupil teacher ratio for post leaving certificate colleges; the likely effect this will have on youth unemployment and for the long term unemployed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58119/12]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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There are 32,688 approved Post Leaving Cert (PLC) places available nationwide and this number of places is being maintained.

PLC places are allocated to Vocational Education Committees (VECs), Community and Comprehensive and Voluntary Secondary schools on an annual basis following an application process and VECs are responsible for the further allocation of those places to schools and colleges under their remit.

While it would have been preferable not to have to make any changes, by bringing the pupil teacher ratio (PTR) for PLC courses into line with that of free second level schools, e.g., 19:1, the Government has succeeded in protecting class sizes in primary and free second-level schools for the coming year, ensuring that our limited resources are rightly focussed on the children in our education system. The change will yield estimated savings of €12 million in a full year and €4 million in 2013 because the change will only come into effect from September 2013.

The change will reduce the number of teaching posts by 200 in PLC courses and may lead to some reduction in subject choices for students. It is now up to VEC CEOs and principals to plan for September 2013 to ensure they can continue to deliver programmes which closely meet the needs of both students and employers.