Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is my first time taking Priority Questions in the House as Minister for Education and Skills. I thank the Opposition spokespersons for their questions and I look forward to working with them in a constructive way.

My Department publishes statistics annually including information on school size. In the last school year there were 29 one-teacher schools and 11 in each of the

previous two years. The number of one-teacher schools in the current school year is expected to be around 40 but the final position will not be known until the teacher allocation and appeals processes have fully concluded in the coming weeks. The pupil threshold for a two-teacher school was 12 pupils which gave an average class size of just six pupils. As part of budgetary measures the pupil threshold was increased, on a phased basis, to 20 pupils. This puts the staffing arrangements for small schools on a more affordable and sustainable basis.

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