Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 March 2015
496. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Skills in respect of a DEIS band 1 school in Ballymun, Dublin 9, if she will review the decision of her Department to suppress a concessionary post (details supplied). [10466/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraBudget 2012 provided for the phased withdrawal of approximately 428 posts allocated to some schools under disadvantage programmes prior to the introduction of DEIS in 2005. Due to conflicting reports of posts being lost in these schools, my Department produced a report on the impact of the withdrawal of these legacy posts from DEIS Band 1 and Band 2 Schools. Following the Government's decision of 21 February 2012 in the matter, a number of schools continued to retain disadvantaged legacy posts from previous disadvantage schemes on a year to year basis and only where warranted, based on the enrolment of the previous 30th September.
The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to primary schools are published annually on the website of the Department of Education and Skills. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing arrangements for the 2015/16 school year are set out in Circular 0005/2014 which is available on the Department website.
As the teaching allocation to schools, including concessionary posts, is enrolment based, it is this which determines whether schools gain or lose teaching posts from year to year. The school referred to by the Deputy will have its legacy post subsumed into its mainstream staffing from September 2015 as it saw an increase in enrolment sufficient to warrant an additional mainstream classroom teaching post for the 2015/16 school year.
