Vol. 443 No. 8
95 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education if she will allocate at least one extra teacher to St. Mary's primary school, Dungarvan, County Waterford, which caters for 486 pupils with 15 assistant teachers, two remedial and one concessionary appointed on the amalgamation of the schools, in view of the loss of two teachers in the next school year, one through retirement and the other through resignation.
St. Mary's primary school, Dungarvan currently has a staff of a principal plus seventeen assistants and two remedial teachers.
The sixteenth assistant's post in the school will be suppressed at the end of the current school year. The enrolment in the school on 30 September 1993, was 486 pupils which, by reference to a staffing agreement entered into between the Government and the INTO, warrants a staffing in the 1994-95 school year of a principal and 15 assistants.
The school has had one extra post in excess of its entitlement since its amalgamation. This is the seventeenth assistant's post. This concession ceases when a teacher, who formed part of the staffing of the school at the time of the amalgamation, leaves the school voluntarily. I understand that two teachers in the school are leaving this year.
In the circumstances, the staffing of the school reverts to that applicable to a school with an enrolment of 486 pupils, which is a principal and 15 assistants.
96 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education if she will grant disadvantaged status to St. Mary's primary school, Dungarvan, County Waterford, due to the social problems in the locality it serves.
I am aware that the school in question applied for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas scheme.
Schools are selected for inclusion in this scheme on the basis of priority of need as reflected by a range of socio-economic criteria.
Factors taken into account include the incidence of unemployment, local authority housing and medical card holders among the parents of the children concerned. Account is also taken of the views of the Department's Inspectorate on the relative levels of need between applicant schools.
As I recently announced in the context of the 1994 Education budget, an additional 55 schools have been designated as disadvantaged for capitation grant purposes in the current year.
I regret that the school in question did not rate high enough on the priority list for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas scheme on this occasion.
