Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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230. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total number of schools in the country that were closed to facilitate polling for the Seanad referendum on the 4 October 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50468/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Returning Officers are statutorily responsible for the conduct of elections in the various constituencies and may, under electoral law, use school premises for this purpose. Where a school is used as a polling station for elections on a day on which the school was scheduled to be open, the school authorities concerned are allowed to count the day of polling as a day of exceptional closing and are not required to make up that day for the purposes of meeting the minimum number of days tuition required in the school year. It is not necessary for such schools to seek the formal approval of my Department for such a closure. Data in respect of the number of schools designated as polling stations for the recent elections is not readily available within my Department.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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231. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the total cost to his Department in payments made to teachers who were unable to work the day of the Seanad referendum on 4 October 2013 as their school was closed to facilitate polling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50469/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Returning Officers are statutorily responsible for the conduct of elections in the various constituencies and may, under electoral law, use school premises for this purpose. Where a school is used as a polling station for a referendum or elections on a day on which the school was scheduled to be open, the school authorities concerned are allowed to count the day of polling as a day of exceptional closing and are not required to make up that day for the purposes of meeting the minimum number of days tuition required in the school year. It is not necessary for each of the relevant schools to seek approval from the Department for such a closure. The data requested is not therefore available within the Department.