Roger T. Garland
Ceist:204 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Education if age discrimination is in operation within his Department and various schools and bodies, such as vocational education committee's.
Written Answers. - Criteria for Appointing Staff.
Roger T. Garland
Ceist:205 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Education the reason there is an age limit of 29 for temporary one year contract lecturing posts within the City of Dublin vocational education committee.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 204 and 205 together.
The appointment of national teachers is a matter for the board of management of the school subject to the approval of both the patron and the Minister. A candidate must be at least 17 years of age for admission to a college of education for training as a national teacher on the basis of performance at the Leaving Certificate Examination. Mature candidates must be at least 23 years of age. A national teacher must retire at the end of the school year in which he/she reaches the age of 65 years.
The criteria for the selection of staff for appointment in secondary, community and comprehensive schools is a matter for the authorities of individual schools. My Department does not impose age limits for the purpose of the payment of incremental salary of those teachers except in so far as the compulsory age for retirement is 65 years.
Memorandum V7 which governs the appointment of teachers throughout the vocational sector including the City of Dublin vocational education committee, specifies age limits for appointment both to permanent wholetime posts and one year temporary posts. There is provision for me, as Minister, to approve the appointment of a person whose age is outside these limits and as far as I am aware no one is excluded on age grounds alone.
In line with the commitment given in theProgramme for Economic and Social Progress my Department is in the process of amending the regulations to allow the upper age limit to be raised substantially. The provision for exceptions will continue to exist.
Having regard to the commitment given in theProgramme for Economic and Social Progress to substantially raise recruitment age limits throughout the public sector and to subsequent discussions with managerial and staff interests, the upper age limit for clerical and administrative staff in the vocational education committee second level area was raised to 50 years in September 1991. Vocational education committees were also requested at the same time to review their eligibility requirements for non-officer grades to apply the new age limit of 50 years as a guideline where upper age limits lower than 50 applied. In the case of community and comprehensive schools, no upper age limit is specified in relation to non-teaching posts.
My Department has no direct involvement in the employment of non-teaching staff in the voluntary secondary schools. The position in regard to recruitment and promotion within my Department is as follows. Recruitment to established posts is carried out by the Civil Service Commission in accordance with its standard regulations. In situations where unestablished posts or temporary posts are filled directly by my Department, age limits are not a factor. Promotions are made on a merit basis only.