I am glad of the opportunity to raise this case, which is a human interest story. In welcoming the Minister of State, Deputy McManus to the House, I ask her to give a sympathetic hearing to this injustice which relates to one school. Inch national school, near Thurles, County Tipperary, but it has happened in a number of others.
A year ago there were 91 pupils in that school. One of them, a child with special needs, was offered an opportunity to participate in a Department of Education pilot scheme for speech therapy in a neighbouring town. The child received the therapy for a full year on the understanding she would come back to the school at the end of the school year, 1 September next. The child left last September and still intends returning next September.
However, when the child left the number of pupils in the school reduced from 91 to 90. That is the threshold figure for the retention of a fourth teacher in a school. The position is now quite extraordinary; because the child accepted the special offer for treatment she will return to a school where the pupil teacher ratio has been worsened. There will now be three teachers to deal with 90 children where there were four to deal with 91.
This is completely against the spirit of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work, which suggested that we should focus on disadvantage and give support to those with special needs. This child received such support but is now returning to worsened circumstances. It is contrary to the policy in the Department of Education for dealing with children with special needs.
When coming to agreement with the Department on numbers, the INTO has always said children removed from one school roll to another to have their special needs addressed or responded to should continue to be included for a period on the roll of the school they have left. That has been a matter for discussion between us for many years and on previous occasions we have managed to sort out difficulties.
While there are other teacher disputes in other areas, this is one small school where one child has a difficulty. Dealing with the difficulty has led to the loss of a teacher to the school and, therefore, reduced the pupil-teacher ratio and left a worsened position for that child when she returns and the other pupils. There is something fundamentally inhuman about that approach to a problem.
This has nothing to do with jobs because the teacher who leaves the school will be redeployed locally and there will be many opportunities to do that. The case requires a sympathetic response. Neither the INTO nor I as a teacher can walk away from this problem or act irresponsibly. Someone must take a stand on these cases. Undoubtedly the Minister shares my view on the issues I raised and what I propose is within the agreement on staffing in the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. It also meets a need in a small school. I urge that the matter be regularised so the school can retain its four teachers.
