Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 March 2017
122. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will ensure that no teacher will be made redundant in ASTI as a result of the dispute with his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12476/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the Lansdowne Road Agreement, the Government committed that compulsory redundancy would not apply to public servants. This protection is not available to staff who are outside the terms of that Agreement. By deciding to reject the Lansdowne Road Agreement, the ASTI has placed its members outside that Agreement and therefore the Agreement’s benefits and protections will not apply to its members. The Department of Education and Skills made this position clear to the ASTI prior to its recent ballot.
The redeployment process takes place in the first half of each year and takes effect from the start of the following school year. The process operates and deals with any surplus for the following school year.
The staffing and redeployment process for the 2017/18 school year is currently underway in the Department. Last month, 60 secondary schools were identified as possible surplus schools for the 2017/18 school year. These 60 schools received a letter notifying them of their surplus and were given an opportunity to respond to same. This represents the total number of schools where potential surpluses could arise.
However, at this stage of the process it is too early to say what the final position as regards the level of surplus will be, either generally or in particular schools. The level of surplus is influenced by many factors including retirements, career breaks, job-sharing etc. and additional allocations for the forthcoming year in respect of demographics. This continues to evolve as new information is received from relevant schools. Given that Budgets 2016 and 2017 did not negatively impact on teacher allocations, it would not be surprising that the level of redeployment would be lower than in recent years.
The Department expects to know the final position in relation to the number of surplus teachers by late March. This is no different to what transacted in the previous years.
