The statutory regulations relating to part-time workers generally apply equally to part-time teachers.
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the conditions of service of part-time teachers have improved substantially in recent years.
The eligible part-time scheme for teachers grants pro rata pay and conditions of service with their permanent colleagues to part-time teachers who teach at least half the hours of their full-time colleagues and are timetabled for a full year.
The revised proposals on the pay and conditions of teachers in primary and second level schools under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work include proposals which improve the treatment of part-timers with regard to pensionability. The proposals include (a) the admission to pensionability of certain part-time teachers; (b) the reckoning for superannuation purposes of actual part-time teaching service which is followed by whole-time pensionable teaching service; (c) the admission of eligible part-time teachers who teach the equivalent of a whole-time teacher to the superannuation scheme applicable to wholetime teachers.
While teachers in both first and second level schools holding certain posts of responsibility forfeit the allowances attaching to their posts while job-sharing, this matter is the subject of on-going discussions with the interested parties.
Discussions on the pay and conditions of academic staff in the Dublin Institute of Technology, Waterford Institute of Technology and the regional technical colleges under the Programme for Competitiveness and Work are ongoing.
The type of part-time staff employed in the university sector can vary from college to college. Some are paid on an hourly basis while others are paid a fixed amount. The main limitations facing part-time staff are in relation to pension benefits and incremental credit.
Part-time staff in some of the colleges are allowed to become members of the pension scheme.
The advice of the Attorney General on the implications of the court ruling referred to by the Deputy is being sought. I cannot comment on its implications in relation to part-time and job-sharing teachers at the present time.
