Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The figure will be an extra 8,000 at post-primary level in 2014 to 2015.

In 2014 to 2015 the primary school population will be 552,019, another increase of almost 13,000. The total school-going population in 2016 to 2017 does not level off until about 2020 to 2023. This total figure will be of the order of 900,000. We have 90,000 teachers at the moment. The population of the country is 4.5 million. The entire education community accounts for 1 million people. The miracle of the public private partnership is that, Monday to Friday, for more than 30 weeks in the year, the system works; there are no trolleys, no drama, no crisis. If problems arise they are resolved. It is an extraordinary collective effort from all the people involved.