The arrangements for the reallocation of teaching posts owing to the circumstances outlined by the Deputy are as follows:
The panel regulations for national schools provide a system whereby an assistant teacher, whose post is being discontinued due to insufficient enrolment, may be transferred to a post in another national school. The panel regulations are operated on a Diocesan basis and are incorporated in the Rules for National Schools under Rule 97. A teacher whose post is to be discontinued at the end of a school year may opt to have his-her name placed on the appropriate panel for redeployment.
The current panel arrangements for national schools are outlined in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Circular 8/90 issued in April 1990. A copy of that circular is being forwarded to the Deputy.
A redeployment scheme for lay teachers in Catholic secondary schools has been implemented since 1988 as a result of an agreement between the religious-clerical authorities of those schools and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland.
The agreement establishes agreed procedures by which lay teachers may be redeployed to full-time teaching posts within a 30 mile radius, where the number of teachers who may be paid incremental salary is required to be reduced in accordance with the regulations in force.