Written Answers Nos. 103-111
103. Deputy Michelle Mulherin asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of the existing school transport service provided by Bus Éireann to one school (details provided) in County Mayo in each year for the past three years and the cost of extending the service to facilitate pupils of another school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11861/13]
View answerUnder the terms of my Department's Primary School Transport Scheme children are eligible for transport where they reside not less than 3.2 kms from and are attending their nearest national school as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language; this eligibility criteria is applied equitably on a national basis. Bus Éireann operates the Scheme on behalf of my Department and is responsible for the planning and timetabling of school transport routes and services which are determined by the number of eligible children who apply for school transport each year. While the cost of individual routes or services is regarded as commercially sensitive, the Value for Money Review of the School Transport Scheme showed that the school transport unit cost per mainstream child is some €1,000 per annum.
105. Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a cost analysis has been carried out on the decision to amend the Trinity tutorial allowance preventing payment to new applicants for providing the service, under direction of his Department, in view of the fact that such a move is feared to lead to the abolition of the service which is instrumental in the provision of student welfare; and if not, if such an analysis will be completed to highlight the savings and or costs of amending this scheme while also keeping in mind student welfare and provision for such. [11915/13]
View answerRemuneration for university staff is regulated by the Universities Act 1997. The Act requires that all forms of remuneration, including allowances, are approved by the Minister of Education and Skills with the consent of the Minister for Finance. Trinity College did not at any time have sanction to pay the Tutor's allowance and the University has been directed to permanently cease the payment of the unauthorised allowance with effect from July 2013. The cost saving in the following academic year resulting from the cessation of the Tutor's allowance is in the order of €320,000 based on the number of Tutors currently receiving the allowance. This figure does not include 19 tutors appointed to the role after 1st February 2012 who have not been in receipt of an allowance. My Department has not directed Trinity College to cease the operation of the Tutor system and the University is free to continue to provide this service to students without the extra payment.
106. Deputy Tom Fleming asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 254 of 16 January 2013 and No. 78 of 7 February 2013, if he will intervene in a health and safety issue at a school (details supplied) in County Kerry in view of the fact that the board of management has been alerted to and provided a full engineering report on the necessity to carry out the electrical replacement-and also the critical ESB recommendation and in the interest of general safety and compliance with electrical standards; if he will act immediately; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11921/13]
View answerThe management authorities of the school referred to by the Deputy submitted an application recently for funding under my Department's Emergency Works Scheme to carry out various improvement works at their school. As the scope of works for which funding is sought is outside the terms of the scheme they cannot be considered for funding. The management authority of the school has been informed of this decision. The school has been advised to submit a scaled down application to address the immediate health & safety issues and to date a scaled back application has not been received from the school. As soon as this application is received it will be assessed and the school authorities notified of the outcome.
107. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the gender breakdown of primary school principals by county. [12016/13]
View answer108. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the gender breakdown of principals in secondary schools by county. [12017/13]
View answer109. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills the gender breakdown of principal in vocational education committee schools by county. [12018/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 107 to 109, inclusive, together.
The information requested by the Deputy in relation to teachers in Secondary, Community and Comprehensive Schools is not available on a county basis. VEC teachers are employees of VECs and are paid on 33 separate VEC payrolls. Accordingly, the Department does not have the information which the Deputy is seeking for teachers in VECs.
110. Deputy Jerry Buttimer asked the Minister for Education and Skills regarding those secondary and or montessori teachers who have been working within the special education sector and prior to circular 0038/2012 were entitled to apply for panel rights, with the phasing out of the supplementary special national panels the provisions that have been made for those teachers who are adversely affected by the change; if they will be given any similar entitlements or will they have to apply for positions which only become available if the positions are not filled through the panel system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12020/13]
View answerThe core function of the redeployment arrangements is to facilitate the redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers to other schools that have vacancies. The redeployment of all surplus permanent teachers is key to the Department's ability to manage within its payroll budget and ceiling on teacher numbers. Thereafter, schools are required under the panel arrangements to fill permanent vacancies from supplementary panels comprised of eligible fixed-term (temporary/substitute) and part-time teachers.
Following a review of the operation of the subsidiary and supplementary panel arrangements in the 2012/13 school year and in order to enable the redeployment process to operate in a more efficient manner a number of changes are being introduced with effect from the 2013/14 school year. All eligible applicants who meet the eligibility criteria will be placed on the relevant supplementary panels. There will no longer be separate subsidiary panels. The Subsidiary and Supplementary Special National Panels are being phased out and no new applications are being accepted. This decision by the Department reflects the wider availability of primary teachers who are qualified to work in all settings which was not the case when this panel was originally set up.
Access to the Supplementary Special National Panel for the 2013/14 school year will be confined to those teachers who were on the Subsidiary or Supplementary Special National Panels in the 2012/13 school year and who did not secure a permanent teaching post. My Department has contacted these teachers directly. A further change is that the Supplementary Special National Panel for the 2013/14 school year will be used only for filling permanent teaching posts in special schools that are not otherwise required for the redeployment of surplus permanent teachers. The arrangements for panel access for fixed term (temporary), substitute and part-time teachers for the 2013/14 school year are set out in Circular 0038/2012 which is available on the Department website.
111. Deputy Arthur Spring asked the Minister for Education and Skills the projected enrolment in primary schools in Killorglin, County Kerry, for 2013, 2014 and 2015; the percentage increase or decrease in the projected enrolments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12030/13]
View answerThe overall enrolment in primary schools in the Killorglin feeder area in 2011 was 1,383 pupils and the projected overall enrolment for 2015 is 1,516 pupils. This represents an increase of 10%.
