Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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238. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding teacher panel rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20149/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers to other schools that have vacancies. The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to the Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent vacancies from supplementary panels comprised of eligible fixed-term (temporary/substitute) and part-time teachers.

Following a review of the operation of the subsidiary and supplementary panel arrangements in the 2012/13 school year and in order to enable the redeployment process to operate in a more efficient manner a number of changes are being introduced with effect from the 2013/14 school year. All eligible applicants who meet the eligibility criteria will be placed on the relevant supplementary panels. There will no longer be separate subsidiary panels.

The Subsidiary and Supplementary Special National Panels are being phased out and no new applications are being accepted. This decision by the Department reflects the wider availability of primary teachers who are qualified to work in all settings which was not the case when this panel was originally set up. Access to the Supplementary Special National Panel for the 2013/14 school year will be confined to those teachers who were on the Subsidiary or Supplementary Special National Panels in the 2012/13 school year and who did not secure a permanent teaching post. My Department has contacted these teachers directly. A further change is that the Supplementary Special National Panel for the 2013/14 school year will be used only for filling permanent teaching posts in special schools that are not otherwise required for the redeployment of surplus permanent teachers. The arrangements for panel access for fixed term (temporary), substitute and part-time teachers for the 2013/14 school year are set out in Circular 0038/2012 which is available on the Department website.