Vol. 521 No. 4
308 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of schools that will lose a teacher on the basis of their enrolment on 30 September 2000; if he will give a breakdown on a county by county basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17343/00]
The staffing allocation to schools for a particular school year is determined by the enrolment at the end of September of the preceding year.
While it is anticipated that enrolments generally will fall in the next school year, it is not possible to predict the position in individual schools.
309 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of teachers currently within the education system without the relevant qualifications who have thirty years or more service in schools; the proposals, if any, he has to provide them with pension entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17344/00]
The information requested by the Deputy in relation to numbers is not available in my Department.
Apart from a small number of unqualified eligible part-time teachers who have been in regular part-time employment without interruption from a date prior to 1 September 1987, unqualified teachers are not eligible for admission to the teachers' superannuation schemes. There are no plans at present to change that position.
310 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will sanction a concessionary post to the Presentation primary school, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, to replace the teaching post that will be lost in 2000; if he will also consider appointing an extra learning support teacher and a home-school liaison teacher to the school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17345/00]
330 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason a school (details supplied) in County Tipperary has not been granted disadvantaged status when other schools in the vicinity have; the criteria applied to the decision not to grant disadvantaged status; if he will ensure in the absence of such status that an extra teacher, a learning support teacher and a home-school liaison teacher will be granted to the school to offset its disadvantage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17571/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 310 and 330 together.
As the Deputy may be aware I have received a detailed submission from the principal of the school concerned regarding its particular needs.
Having examined the comprehensive submission, I have informed the principal that, in view of the detailed statistics which she provided concerning the particular needs of the children in the infants classes I was happy to approve the appointment of a concessionary teacher with effect from 1 September 2000. This school also has the services of a full-time remedial teacher. All available posts were utilised in the current school year to ensure that no primary school in the country should be without a remedial teaching service. However, I can assure the Deputies that I have noted the situation to which they refer and that the remedial needs of the school mentioned will be fully considered in the event of additional resources becoming available to improve existing remedial services.
From the commencement of the current school year, the home-school-community liaison service has been extended to all first and second level schools which have disadvantaged area status. The school referred to by the Deputies was considered for inclusion in the disadvantaged areas scheme when it was last expanded in 1994. However, the school did not rank high enough on the priority list to be considered for inclusion at that time.
