Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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144. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of unfilled teaching posts by school; the number which have been vacant for over six months in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44338/18]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to school management annually and are available on the Department website.  The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.

The recruitment and appointment of teachers to fill teaching posts as permitted by the staffing schedule is a matter for the individual Board of Management of each school, subject to procedures agreed under Section 24(3) of the Education Act 1998 (as amended by the Education (Amendment) Act 2012). The deployment of teaching staff in the school, the range of subjects offered and ultimately the quality of teaching and learning are in the first instance a matter for the school management authorities.

Teachers are employed by the managerial authorities of schools and the onus is on the managerial authorities to fill all vacancies as permitted by the staffing schedule. Proposals for appointments to schools are submitted by the managerial authorities.  The processing of applications for payment is ongoing at present in the payroll sections of my Department. The deadline for submission of appointments to posts for the 18/19 school year is the first working day in November.