asked the Minister for Education if he will state in what way secondary school teachers who join the Defence Forces for the emergency are affected in respect of (1) salaries, (2) increments, and (3) pensions, by reason of their absence on military service.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Secondary School Teachers.
The basic portion of a secondary teacher's salary is paid by the manager of the school in which he is employed and the incremental portion by the Department. If a teacher joins the Defence Forces the payment of basic salary, or portion of it, to him during his absence, and the provision of a substitute, are matters for private arrangement between the teacher and his manager. No payment of incremental salary is made to a teacher who joins the Defence Forces during the period of his absence from his teaching duties, and this absence does not count as service for increments or for pension purposes.
This arrangement does not apply to teachers who are members of the Local Security Force and who may be called upon to serve in the Local Defence Force during an emergency; full credit for such service will be given for incremental salary and pension purposes.
Has the Minister made any estimate of what a secondary school teacher, who has answered the Government's call to increase the Defence Forces at the present time, will lose, therefore, as a result of his answering that call, by way of increment alone, apart altogether from the retrogression in his rate of full pension?
Judging, as the Deputy will see, from the answer to a later question, the number of teachers involved is very small.
Is the Minister aware that, even with the small number of teachers who may have joined, if, say, a teacher of 27 years of age, having five years' service, joins the Defence Forces and the emergency continues for two years, by the time he has reached his maximum he will have lost £288 as a result of his giving national service in response to the Government's call, and that if the emergency lasts three years he will have lost £414 as a result of his service? Does the Minister consider that that is in accordance with the spirit of the appeal made by the Government to the country as a whole or to individual employers throughout the country generally?
Of course, nobody is in a position to say how long this emergency is likely to last. It may continue for a very long period. Secondary teachers are being treated, as regards enlistment in the Army, in the same way as other public servants. These teachers possess specialised qualifications for the important work in which they are engaged, and the absence of a substantial number of them for a protracted period from their schools might seriously affect the efficiency of the work in these schools. Every facility is afforded to these teachers to assist in the work of the Local Security Force and similar organisations. The Department is aware that a number of men secondary teachers hold responsible positions as leaders in the Local Security Force, and some of these have been granted facilities, with the approval of the Department, to attend special courses of military training to fit them for the positions they occupy. This arrangement enables these teachers to render valuable service in the present emergency, without causing undue disturbance or disorganisation in their teaching duties.
Is the Minister aware that, when the appeal was made by the Government to the young men of the country to join the Defence Forces, there was no intention at all that the Local Security Force would be a military force, and that it was only after several weeks' discussion of that matter that the Local Security Force was so organised that some members would be able to give military service?
I want to make it clear to the Deputy and the House that so far as the treatment of teachers, in whatever category they may be, is concerned, in connection with enlistment in the Army or in the Local Security Force, regard has to be had to the position of other public servants, and as far as possible, I think, the Government's intention is that they should be all treated alike and that one particular section should not appear to get concessions which others do not get.
Will the Minister say, then, whether it is a fact that a civil servant who joins the Defence Forces will have his annual increments held up?
That is a separate question, and I am not in a position to answer it.
Is the Minister aware that he suggests that secondary school teachers are being treated in the same way as civil servants?
I said public servants generally.
Will he explain, then, what he means by public servants, in this connection?
I mean persons whose emoluments are drawn from public funds.
Does that include civil servants?
Yes.
Will the Minister say, then, that if a civil servant is allowed to join the Defence Forces his increments will be held up and he will go back into the Civil Service on the same pay that he had when he joined the Defence Forces?
I think the Deputy should put down a separate question.
Instead of putting down a separate question, I propose to raise the matter on the adjournment.
I should like to know what it is that the Deputy wishes to raise on the adjournment, and what is his reason?
The unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's answer.
I am not responsible in this House for the civil servants.
I am speaking of the secondary school teachers.
Deputy Keyes asked yesterday for permission to raise a matter on the adjournment to-day.
Very well, Sir. I shall give the Minister an opportunity to think this over until next week, when I shall put down the question again.
The Deputy means the week after next.
Yes.