Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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171. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his Department will apply the same criteria for the awarding of contracts of indefinite duration and access to the redeployment scheme to all teachers in the voluntary secondary sector irrespective as to whether they are members of the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17475/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The ASTI's withdrawal from the Croke Park hours means that the union has repudiated the Lansdowne Road Agreement.

The financial and other consequences for ASTI members of failure to co-operate with the terms of the agreement were formally notified to ASTI in June 2016. 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. The protection from compulsory redundancy that public servants have arises from commitments given by the Government under the Lansdowne Road Agreement. Another benefit of the Agreement is the continuation of the Ward Report measures in relation to contracts of indefinite duration and a revised sequence for filling posts – both of which enable fixed-term and part-time teachers to gain permanent, full-time jobs more easily and quickly than before.

The purpose of the redeployment scheme for school surpluses is to deal with situations where teacher surpluses arise without the need for compulsory redundancies. 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 the 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.

The 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.