Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The Deputy asked five or seven supplementary questions. I will take note of them as I might have to reply to them in writing. There are fixed standing charges for a school, such as insurance, which take no account of the size of the school in real terms. There are other related costs, regardless of whether the school has 50 or 150 pupils. There are disproportionate costs for smaller schools, but they tend to be in rural areas where they are isolated. However, the level of isolation now, given the use of motorised transport in those communities, is different from what it was 15 or 20 years ago, notwithstanding the downturn in the economy.

When these measures are introduced across the country by the end of 2014 the pupil-teacher ratios will still be very favourably biased or skewed in favour of rural areas. They will be far different and far more beneficial for the rural community than are the current pupil-teacher ratios for urban areas. That is what we are trying to reconcile. It is essentially a cost measure.

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