Vol. 481 No. 6
62 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers in primary schools which are expected to be freed up in 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01 through the demographic dividend; and the priorities, if any, he has for the development of those teachers. [16668/97]
The Deputy will be aware that An Action Programme for the Millennium contains a commitment to give primary education a clear priority in the allocation of resources. While no firm decisions have yet been taken in this matter, clearly the redistribution of any surplus posts arising within the primary sector would represent an efficient manner of achieving this objective.
Because there are so many variable factors involved, I regret that it is not possible at this stage to forecast the number of teaching posts which may become surplus over the next few years.
