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

I will always listen to the Deputy and his colleagues.

My main priority for any additional resources for the foreseeable future will be to cater for the continuing increase in demographics at all levels in the education system. We have a growing population of young people in this country and despite the difficult financial circumstances we face as a country, we prioritised education so the number of teachers we have in the system has also grown in order to protect existing pupil teacher ratios. There were 1,000 more teachers employed in schools around the country in the past school year than there was the previous year. There will be a further increase of approximately 1,300 teachers in the current school year.

This is an increase of approximately 2,300 teachers within a two year period, which is a significant investment at a time of scarce resources. My focus in preparing for budget 2015 must be to seek the funding necessary to meet this demographic growth and not on additional spending measures such as that proposed by the Deputy. If in future years there is funding available to reduce class sizes, my preference is that it would be targeted at reducing class sizes at infant years.

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