Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I have already made it clear that school communities should have no reason to feel that there will be a forced closure of their local school. No school closes because it loses a teacher. Small primary schools that had to close in recent years were those that were no longer viable due to falling enrolment. The enrolment in such schools had typically fallen below a total of eight pupils for two consecutive school years. The school to which the Deputy refers currently has 19 pupils. I set out quite clearly at the beginning that if it continues to have numbers of that order, it will retain its second teacher for many years to come.

For constitutional reasons, it is not possible to discriminate positively towards any particular religion or ethos, and the Department is obliged to operate the same staffing arrangements for Church of Ireland schools as any Catholic or any other type of school. I am sure the Deputy is aware that his colleague in Northern Ireland is questioning the educational attainment and standards available in the small rural school network in Northern Ireland. He has gone so far as to say that one would have to question the viability of any school operating with fewer than 100 pupils. We are making no such statement.

We also await the publication of the value for money report, which is due towards the end of next month. We can then begin the conversation on how we sustain and build upon the excellent tradition of education in rural Ireland. We must also look at how this challenge is being addressed in other jurisdictions, where we have similarly dispersed rural communities, such as Wales and Scotland.

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