asked the Minister for Education (1) whether he can hold out any prospect of immediate employment to the teachers of the Elementary Evening Schools which have been dissolved recently, and (2) whether it is proposed to make any reimbursement for the expenses incurred in equipping and maintaining these schools.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Elementary Evening Schools.
I refer the Deputy, in connection with the first part of his inquiry, to my reply to Deputy Good on the 27th February last, in which I explained that those of the teachers who were employed in evening schools and who possess the recognised teaching qualifications should have little difficulty in procuring suitable employment, but that, as teachers are appointed by the managers in the case of primary and secondary schools, and by the local committees in the case of technical schools, I am not in a position to give any promise to find employment for those or any other teachers.
With regard to the second part of the question, these evening schools were voluntary in character and were recognised, subject to official regulations, on the applications of managers of national schools, committees (including committees of technical schools) or other persons. It was an essential condition for their recognition that they should be conducted in suitable premises with adequate equipment. Under the regulations, the managers or committees employed the teachers and arranged the amount of their remuneration. The State payments, which included grants on the basis of the efficiency of the instruction and a quota of the cost of heating, lighting and requisites (such as books and stationery), were intended to cover a proportion of the expenditure on the equipment and maintenance of the schools, in addition to the remuneration of the teachers.
No further reimbursement for expenses incurred in equipping and maintaining these schools is, in the circumstances, admissible.