Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 6 Oct 1999

Vol. 508 No. 4

Written Answers. - School Staffing.

Ulick Burke

Question:

249 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of new teacher appointments made in County Galway at primary level for the current school year; the number of remedial posts and resource teachers appointed; the number of national schools without the services of teachers at these posts; the costs of these additional appointments, if any, to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19252/99]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin)

An additional 19 teacher posts have been sanctioned for schools in County Galway as a result of improvements in the staffing schedule for the 1999-2000 school year.

An additional 16 remedial teacher posts have been allocated to the county as a result of the extension of the remedial teacher service to all schools in the country with a pupil-teacher ratio of 10:1 or more. There are three schools in County Galway with a pupil-teacher ratio below 10:1. The remedial service has not been extended to these schools. However, the schools in question are free to make an application to my Department for such a service provided they can demonstrate a need for such support.

Under a major new initiative in the special education area, all children in the primary system assessed as having special needs arising from a disability are now entitled to an automatic response to those needs. The nature and level of the response in each case will depend on the assessed needs of the child or group of children involved. The response may take the form of full-time or part-time teaching support or child care support, or both, depending on the number of children involved and the nature of their needs.

Prior to the commencement of the current school year, a total of 26 resource teacher posts had been allocated to schools in County Galway. Applications in respect of an additional 14 resource teacher posts for the county are currently being examined by my Department's inspectorate.

The estimated cost of the 35 additional teacher posts allocated to County Galway for the current school year is £875,000.