Phil Hogan
Question:890 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Education and Science the payments which have been made to each second level school in County Kilkenny in respect of substitution and supervision arising from the teachers' dispute. [9320/02]
Written Answers. - School Staffing.
Officials of my Department held discussions with the representatives of the managerial authorities in the second level sector, in order to ensure that schools would remain open when the ASTI directive to its members to withdraw from voluntary supervision and substitution duties took effect on 4 March 2002.
Arising from these discussions a contingency plan was prepared and agreed between my Department and the managerial authorities. As part of the contingency arrangements, my Department undertook to resource schools in order that they could employ staff to provide supervision and thereby remain open. In addition, my Department undertook to recoup the cost to the management authorities in advertising for, recruiting and training personnel to provide supervision services in schools on a temporary contractual basis.
Supervisors who contracted for delivery of supervision services are being remunerated at a daily contract rate of €68.56, £54, based on a minimum of two hours' supervision. Where further supervision above these two hours is required this is being remunerated at €34.28, £27, per additional hour. This is the equivalent to the hourly rate offered to teachers.
To put schools in funds for the purposes of the contingency arrangements, an initial payment was made to schools by my Department on 28 February 2002, and was based upon six weeks of the annual grant, calculated on the basis of €1,270, £1,000, per whole-time equivalent teacher post per annum, with a stipulation that further payments of the grant will be made to schools at the appropriate stages of the contingency. In addition, funding was provided to cover employers PRSI, holiday pay and administrative costs. In aggregate, the sum dispersed to schools was approximately €7 million, £5.5 million. I am not in a position at present to provide the Deputy with details of funding provided to schools in County Kilkenny.
The contingency plan acknowledges that supplementary allocations may need to be made to some schools at a later stage if their approved outgoings are greater than the amount of the grant. Accordingly, the final costs are not yet available.
The joint managerial body, JMB, placed advertisements on behalf of the managerial authorities in the national media over the weekend of the 16-17 February. In addition, the JMB organised training on a regional basis and operated a telephone help-line for schools. My Department has recouped €114,258.47, £89,985.86, to the JMB to offset the cost of providing these services to date. The current position is that the INTO has accepted my Department's proposals for payment on the basis of €34.28 per hour. The TUI and ASTI have rejected them.
The ASTI issued a directive to their members to withdraw from supervision and substitution with effect from 4 March 2002. The directive applies to supervision at break times and before and after school and to substitution by permanent teachers for absent colleagues.
On Friday, 15 February the ASTI made a new set of demands in relation to supervision and substitution. These were a minimum annual rate of €2,500; that it be pensionable; available to existing pensioners in compensation for having done this for free over a number of years; that it be within the 22 hours weekly maximum teaching time.
I met with the three teacher unions on 28 February 2002. I indicated that the Government is not opposed to the pensionability of supervision payments. In that regard I offered to enter into a process at the end of the current school year to work out the details of an arrangement which would be consistent with the requirements for pensionability. I also indicated that the procedures provided by the conciliation and arbitration scheme for teachers should be used to deal with the issue of an appropriate payment rate for supervision. These procedures include independent arbitration where the parties cannot agree.
My approach was welcomed by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the Teachers' Union of Ireland but rejected by the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland. The ASTI central executive has since decided not to enter into any further negotiations on this matter pending the settlement of their pay claim.
At a meeting of the Teachers' Conciliation Council on 12 March, the TUI and INTO requested that further discussions take place on the issue of supervision and substitution. These discussions will commence shortly with the assistance of a facilitator. The ASTI has taken the view that they are not prepared to deal with this issue within the teachers' conciliation and arbitration scheme, which is the agreed industrial relations forum for processing these matters.