Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá fáilte roimh na toscairí ar fad. I will go straight into it. Do the witnesses agree with me that the use of the pupil-teacher ratio as the main basis for funding schools and teachers is a very blunt instrument in the context of rural areas? I note that some of the DEIS cutbacks were reversed, but they were not reversed in rural areas. Could the Department outline why the value for money audit has not been published? Will it be published soon? The Minister, Deputy Quinn, alluded last week to the possibility that the pupil-teacher ratio might have to be examined on a national basis. Is the Department undertaking such calculations at the moment on his behalf? Would any changes be imposed on schools with one, two, three or four teachers, which have already taken an increase in their pupil-teacher ratios? What do the other witnesses think about the effect such an extra whammy, so to speak, on top of the whammies, as it were, their schools have already been hit with, might have?

When the Department is calculating the number of teachers in a school, how cognisant is it of the complexity of teaching in rural schools and small faith-based schools, as outlined at today's meeting? Such schools may have multiple curricula, multiple age groups, principals who also have teaching duties, children with special needs, and English language or Irish language issues. A smaller rural school may have less capacity to raise funds because of its smaller parent base. Many rural schools are in areas that have traditionally had to confront socioeconomic difficulties.