Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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345. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason his Department and the State Examinations Commission have failed to honour the contracts of 17 teachers in ISM International School in Tripoli, Libya, while his Department continues to provide this school with the Irish leaving certificate examinations; the reason these teachers have been left unpaid for teaching duties performed; if he will work to resolve this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24066/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The International School of Martyrs (ISM) is a private educational institution located in Tripoli, Libya. The Irish Leaving Certificate examination is offered each year to candidates in the school. The role of the State Examinations Commission (SEC) is to provide examinations to candidates who have been entered for either the Junior or Leaving Certificate and in this regard I am informed by the SEC that it engages with the ISM school authorities on the delivery of the Leaving Certificate examinations for students from the school. For the purpose of the examination system ISM candidates are bound by the same rules and programmes as all other pupils taking the examinations, pay their examination fees to the State Examinations Commission (SEC) and sit their examinations under the same conditions.

Teachers working at ISM are directly recruited and engaged as employees of that school. Their terms and conditions are private contractual matters between themselves and the school authorities. Neither the SEC nor my Department has a role in relation to internal management or contractual issues between school employees and their employers.

Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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346. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the leaving certificate is going ahead in Malta in June; if his Department or the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have made any appeals to the Libyan Government to ensure that the contracts of 17 Irish teachers who worked at the ISM International School in Tripoli, Libya, will be honoured; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24067/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The State Examinations Commission is currently working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to put in place arrangements that would allow the Leaving Certificate examinations to be held in Malta this year.

Teachers working at ISM are directly recruited and engaged as employees of that school. Their terms and conditions are private contractual matters between themselves and the school authorities. Neither the SEC nor my Department has a role in relation to internal management or contractual issues between school employees and their employers.