Written answers

Wednesday, 5 April 2017

Department of Education and Skills

School Staff

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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82. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has received advice on the legality of proposals to select members of ASTI for redundancies at the end of this school year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16540/17]

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I note that the ASTI’s Central Executive Council announced at the weekend that it would hold a ballot for industrial action over the potential redundancy of ASTI member teachers.

The protection from compulsory redundancy that public servants have arises from commitments given by the Government under the Lansdowne Road Agreement. This protection is not available to those who are outside the terms of that Agreement. By deciding to reject the Lansdowne Road Agreement, the ASTI has placed its members outside that Agreement and has decided that the Agreement’s benefits and protections will not apply to its members. My Department made this position clear to the ASTI prior to its recent ballot.

The process of identifying staff surpluses takes place in the first half of each year and takes effect from the start of the following school year. The process operates and deals with any surplus for the following school year. 

The process for the 2017/18 school year is currently under way in my Department. 60 secondary schools were identified as possible surplus schools for the 2017/18 school year. These 60 schools received a letter notifying them of their surplus and were given an opportunity to respond to same. This represents the total number of schools where potential surpluses could arise.

However, at this stage of the process it is too early to say what the final position as regards the level of surplus will be, either generally or in particular schools. The level of surplus is influenced by many factors including retirements, career breaks, job-sharing etc. and additional allocations for the forthcoming year in respect of demographics. This continues to evolve as new information is received from relevant schools. Given that Budgets 2016 and 2017 did not negatively impact on teacher allocations, it would not be surprising that the level of redeployment would be lower than in recent years.

My Department expects to know the final position in relation to the number of surplus teachers shortly. This is no different to what has transacted in previous years.

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