John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on small rural schools, having been a student in one. I later served on the board of management of what was a four-teacher school. It became a three-teacher school but it now has a fourth teacher. Hopefully, in the next few years, Listerlin national school, County Kilkenny, will be in the reckoning for a fifth teacher.

I want to make the case for a number of schools in the appeals system. Their staffing levels in September have not yet been finalised. I echo the comments of the previous speaker, Deputy Brendan Griffin, on flexibility, particularly in the case of schools where it is clear that numbers have dipped for a short period but will rise sufficiently in the very near future. Deputy Griffin referred to the new thresholds with regard to the number of pupils required for a school to retain a second teacher if the Minister continues to introduce changes over the coming years. In areas of isolation and in communities, the school is at the heart of the rural community. A strong case can be made for flexibility in regard to how the pupil-teacher ratios are implemented. Equally, following the last budgetary announcement, we cannot have schools with declining numbers remaining open indefinitely except in the case of severe geographic isolation. There cannot be blank cheques for schools when parents are making the decision to send their children to schools other than the one that traditionally served the area. A school with declining numbers cannot retain its teachers indefinitely but there should be a degree of flexibility in respect of geographic factors and where schools can show that enrolment has temporarily dipped and will rise again in the near future, those staffing positions should be maintained. As someone from a very rural part of Kilkenny, I know the significant role rural schools play at the heart of those communities. I want to see a situation where rural schools continue to play that significant role.

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