Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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914. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider reversing her Department's decision to suppress a developing teacher post at a national school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60038/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Teaching allocations are determined by the enrolment of the school on the previous 30 September. This process enables the Department to have in place the necessary measures to assess the accuracy of returns and thereby strengthen the integrity of the resource allocation process and the equitable treatment of schools, whilst ensuring that publicly funded resources are properly allocated.

The staffing arrangements include a provision whereby schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional permanent mainstream posts in advance of the school year, using projected enrolment.

The staffing process also contains an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria to an independent Primary Staffing Appeals Board.

Cloughduv NS applied for a “projected enrolment” post in respect of the 2025/26 school year. This was granted provisionally, on the basis that the school would achieve an enrolment of 169 on 30 September 2025. Schools that are allocated these temporary posts are informed that they may fill the temporary post for September and October, but that if the required enrolment is not achieved, the post will be suppressed at the end of October. The enrolment in the school on 30 September was 166, 3 short of the requirement.

The school appealed to the Independent Appeals Board, however, the decision of the Board on 20 October was to not grant the appeal post. The Primary Staffing Appeals Board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final.

The staffing of Cloughduv NS will remain as it was during the 24/25 school year. The provisional post granted was an additional post, not one that the school already had. As such, the school is retaining its core teaching numbers.