Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 February 2012
86 Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will detail the number of early retirements taken in 2012 from schools in the following locations (details supplied); and if he will provide a breakdown of the retirements by school. [7430/12]
View answerThe information sought by the Deputy is not compiled in the format sought. Officials in the Pension Unit of my Department are currently fully occupied addressing the pension benefit entitlements for those who are retiring at this time. The number of teachers in Primary Secondary, Community and Comprehensive schools who have applied to retire in the period 1 January to 29 February 2012 is 1,166. Information received from the Vocational Education Sector indicate that 220 teachers have applied to retire in that sector during that period. A circular was issued by my Department, in July, 2011 requesting School Boards of Management to inform all staff in their schools (who are members of an occupation pension scheme) who intend to retire on or before 29 February 2012 that they are required to give 3 calendar months' notice of their date of retirement. The circular also stated that a notification may not be withdrawn on or after the date indicated as the last day of service. It was pointed out in that circular that failure to give the required notice could result in a delay in payment of pension benefits.
Accordingly, the actual number retiring will not be accurately known until after 29 February, 2012. When the work of processing pension benefits for those retiring has been addressed it is intended to commence work on compiling detailed statistical data on the number of teachers who retired and to publish this information on my Department's website.
It is important to stress that any vacancies left by retiring primary and post-primary teachers may be filled in a temporary capacity for the remainder of the school year in accordance with the existing recruitment procedures. I am confident that the large pool of qualified and registered teachers will be in a position to continue to provide high quality education to students.
