Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

That is like blaming the principal for the class size. Sometimes he or she cannot avoid having such class sizes. Often a school must wait a year to get an extra teacher so the principal has no alternative but to have larger classes. Does the Minister envisage any changes being made to ensure that schools need not wait a full year to get an extra teacher? Can the staffing be based on the current year's intake rather than on the previous year's? This is causing much difficulty.

This is a commitment in the programme for Government which the Minister has described as a noble aspiration in the past. Does she believe this commitment can be achieved in the next 18 months or will it take significantly longer?

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