Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Schools in this country are independent, autonomous entities managed by a board of management, and each board of management has a significant representation from the parent body of the school, the local community and the staff of the school as well. No decision on the future of a school can be taken without significant consultation with all those groups. Neither can any decision can be taken by this Department or any other entity to force schools into amalgamating if they do not wish to do so.

The Deputy's fears about any potential increase of the pupil-teacher ratio are not well founded on the basis that, irrespective of the amalgamation process and whatever new proposals that might emanate from such a process would be, the national pupil-teacher ratio would still apply and there would be no disadvantage to any children in those schools as a result. My Department has not received any information or formal proposal from any of the patrons of the aforementioned schools as to what the amalgamation process might look like, and until such time as they do, there is no point in commenting further. When that proposal is made known to us, we will be more than happy to discuss it with the Deputy.

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