asked the Minister for Education whether he will consider amending the diocesan panel regulations affecting the appointment and retention of teachers in national schools, in view of the grave hardship which the operation of these regulations is causing (1) to teachers through (a) the breaking up of their homes and the separating of wives from their husbands and families; (b) the difficulty of finding suitable lodgings; (c) the circumstances under which assistant teachers reduce themselves to junior assistant mistresses with consequent loss of salary, and the forcing of teachers to early retiral, and (2) to managers by (a) interfering with their prerogative in the appointment of teachers; and (b) the fact that schools are often left for long periods with inadequate teaching staff.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Diocesan Panel Regulations.
Prior to the introduction of the panel arrangement, salary was withdrawn from teachers whose services, as determined by the number of pupils, were no longer needed in the school; teachers had then to seek posts elsewhere and to suffer loss of salary until they had secured them. The panel arrangement now affords such teachers a certain security of tenure by allowing them to continue to serve in the school and to receive full salary until such time as, within the panel area, alternative vacancies occur to which they may be appointed.
I cannot, therefore, accept the view that the operation of these regulations, which were accepted at the time by the various interests concerned, constitute a hardship. I regret that in certain cases there should be inconvenience and disturbance, but this inconvenience and disturbance is small compared with that which the panel was instituted to remove and which it does remove. It would not be possible to contemplate a position whereby salary would be continued indefinitely irrespective of the attendance at the school and of the need for the teachers' services therein. The panel arrangement is designed for the benefit of the teachers, and the managerial authorities, on their part, accept in that spirit any inconvenience arising from its operation.