asked the Minister for Education if he will state the reason for the delay in the payment of the Secondary Teachers' increment grants which were due for payment on November 1st, and which in other years were paid about November 15th. and if the Minister will further state when he expects that these grants will be paid.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. WRITTEN ANSWERS. - SECONDARY TEACHERS' INCREMENTS.
The claims for payment of Secondary Teachers' incremental salary for the first quarter of the school year, which ends on October 31st, require to be examined and checked with the time tables and other school returns; it is also necessary to ensure that the claims from all the eligible teachers in a school are received before any teacher in the school is paid. Some delay must therefore occur in making arrangements for the issue of these payments.
In previous years the first payments were made to a small number of teachers on or about the date named in the question. A slight additional delay has arisen this year, owing to alterations in the rules under which the payments are made, and to the fact that the staff employed on this work were engaged for some time recently on other special duties.
Payment of the grant is being made at present, and no avoidable delay will occur in having the remaining payments issued.