Teachers hoping to avail of the Government's Cycle to Work scheme will have to wait until next year to get their bikes, according to the Department of Education.
The Department says the scheme was stopped in December of last year but that it will resume again for 2011.
In a written reply yesterday to a Fine Gael Parliamentary Question the Tánaiste and Minister for Education Mary Coughlan blamed a heavy workload caused by the high number of retirements and new appointments for the cancellation of the scheme.
However, a Department spokesman has today said this is incorrect.
He said the scheme was always meant to be closed for this year.
The Cycle to Work scheme has proved extremely popular with teachers.
So far this year 913 teachers and other school staff have bought bikes under the programme, which cuts the cost of a bicycle through a tax exemption.
