asked the Minister for Education if his Department will assume responsibility for the administration of the scheme for the employment of substitute teachers in national schools.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Substitute Teachers.
9.
Circular Letter 21/80 of Nollaig 1980 specifies revised arrangements for the employment and payment of substitute teachers in national schools. These revised arrangements are in line with those applicable in the case of post-primary schools and are, in my opinion, the most suitable which can be made in all the circumstances. The Department of Education are not in a position to assume responsibility for the employment of substitute teachers in either primary or post-primary schools. The arrangements for this purpose must remain a local responsibility.
Would the Minister not agree that there is a widespread and growing revolt among primary school boards of management on the basis that they have neither the resources nor the skill to carry out this work and on the basis of their belief that the resources and the skills necessary reside in the Department of Education?
Deputy Horgan should make up his mind on his philosophy. Out of one corner of his mouth he is pushing decentralisation while out of the other he is advocating centralisation. Since I took office there has been the innovation of the provision for secretaries in schools, for example, and those schools in which there are secretaries should be in a position to deal with this problem. I give all the help possible in getting the scheme off the ground. It is a matter of decentralisation, of management of schools exercising their functions. We make advance payments. To date more than 600 schools have availed of the new scheme so I do not know why the Deputy should become so hot and bothered.
Can the Minister tell us simply why he is not prepared to do what a large and increasing number of boards of management wish him to do and will he not admit that the real reason for this is that he has not got the money, cannot find it or just will not give it for the employment of the necessary staff in his Department?
I should like the House to know that this question has nothing to do with money but that it concerns who manages the schools and who assumes the responsibility. My Department are willing and able to provide all the facilities possible for training people to deal with the scheme. As I have said, this scheme is underway already and more than 600 schools have availed of it. I do not understand how people can, on the one hand, favour centralisation and when it suits them to do so, favour decentralisation.
Did the Minister consult with the managers of primary schools before bringing in the scheme?
Certainly I did and reached agreement with their representative body.
Would the Minister not agree that the request from the boards of management to carry out this function is very reasonable? If the matter is not one of money, would the Minister care to comment on the suggestion that he has been told within the Department that 55 extra officials would be needed there to handle this work? What is his real objection to doing this work which the boards of management, in their wisdom, have asked him to do?
The boards of management reached agreement with the Department on this scheme and my Department see their role as determining the rates payable to substitutes, keeping boards informed of that, operating the system of advance payments to boards that are already in operation, determining whether a person is eligible for recruitment as a substitute and also making the final recoupment to the boards of the total salaries involved. The boards of management and the management of post primary schools have their own role.
If the Department are prepared to do all that, why are they not prepared to undertake the last 2 per cent that is being requested of them?
Question No. 10 is for written reply.