Vol. 575 No. 1
139 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding the proposal to grant an allowance for teachers working in disadvantaged schools; and if there has been further developments on this issue. [27998/03]
The educational disadvantage committee is an independent statutory body which was established in March 2002 under the Education Act 1998. The committee, which is chaired by Professor Áine Hyland, vice-president and professor of education at University College Cork, is responsible for advising me on policies and strategies to be adopted to identify and correct educational disadvantage. The committee has produced a report entitled, Teacher Supply and Staffing in Disadvantaged Settings, which includes a number of recommendations. This report has been submitted to me and is currently under consideration in light of the ongoing work of the committee.
One of my key concerns in terms of tackling disadvantage is to improve the level of integration between the educational disadvantage programmes operated by my Department. In that regard, I have requested the committee to undertake a root and branch review of all of the programmes in order to ensure optimum synergy and integration between them. The committee is currently engaged in this review.
