asked the Minister for Education if she will give details of the agreement concluded recently with the Irish National Teachers Organisation; the present status of Circular 20/87; the number of redundancies of primary teachers provided for in the agreement; the expected pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Agreement with INTO.
3.
I am arranging for a copy of the agreement to be placed in the Oireachtas Library.
I propose to issue a circular to school authorities in relation to the revised schedules of enrolments for the appointment and retention of national teachers.
I take it from the Minister's reply that Circular 20/87 is now a dead letter. With regard to the agreement reached, will the Minister give the number of redundancies which it is expected will be sought this year and will she indicate the pupil-teacher ratio which will apply in the coming academic year?
The copy of the agreement which I am arranging to place in the Library goes through the whole schedule from first assistant to 16th assistant, first appointment, retention figures and all of that. With regard to the number of voluntary redundancies, as the Deputy knows the number of applications received in the Department was of the order of 2,500. The number of redundancies given will be of the order of 1,000. That remains to be worked out between now and the next few weeks.
Will the Minister indicate the pupil-teacher ratio which will apply from September 1988 to 1989 — the lowest figure and the highest figure?
I could go through all the appointements. Is that what the Deputy wishes me to do?
What I want to establish is whether the pupil-teacher ratio will be higher in 1988-89 than in 1987-88.
It will be but as the Deputy is aware one would have to go through the complete list in order to come to the cumulative figure. In answer to the Deputy's direct question as to whether the pupil-teacher ratio will be higher in 1988-89 I can tell him that it will be.
Can the Minister tell us how the individual schools will be able to establish the pupil-teacher ratio between now and September? As the Minister is aware a number of individual schools have contacted Deputies, as well as her Department, in order to find out what pupil-teacher ratio will prevail next September. Is she in a position to answer them?
Yes. The number of teachers for September 1988 will be based on the enrolments as at 30 September 1987 and therefore it will be very clear to the school authorities what their requirements and needs will be. In agreement with the INTO, the arrangements are to be implemented with reference to the enrolments as at 30 September 1987.
Let me add to my question in this way. How will individual schools, boards of management and parent-teacher associations know the impact of the redundancies and will that not affect their ability to forecast what the ratio will be in practice in the classrooms next year?
The number of redundancies to be offered will be along the lines of the arrangement worked out with the INTO and the number of teachers to be provided within the system will be worked out with reference to the enrolments as at 30 September 1987. This arrangement has been agreed on by the unions and the central review committee.
The Minister in her initial reply stated that about 2,500 teachers have applied for voluntary redundancy——
At primary level.
——and that she envisages up to 1,000 redundancies. Can the Minister give us any indication of what criteria will be used in deciding who will be offered redundancy?
That is a matter which still has to be tackled within my Department but we are now about to begin on that process. There have been queries from all sides of the House as to who will be offered redundancy but the details have yet to be worked out.