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

I share the Deputy's concern that we should reduce class size as soon as we can. However, we are still in a tight budgetary situation. In terms of the education budget, even if we receive the same amount as last year, we will need more because of the increased pupil numbers. This must be our priority. We must have teachers for the extra children.

One of the issues in regard to the figures for the rest of the European Union is that, by and large, those countries do not have growing populations and increasing numbers of children. The Deputy is correct that our class size is above the European average. We are also slightly above the OECD average of 21.3. The average class size here is 24.4. As the Deputy knows, the pupil-teacher ratio is not as high as the figure he gave for the larger classes, because of the variety in class numbers. In DEIS schools we have a lower pupil-teacher ratio and I support that.

The projected number of pupils for the current school year is 544,762 at primary level and 338,046 at post-primary level. We have a large population in that age category and must cater for them. I would like to reduce class size and the pupil-teacher ratio as soon as possible, but we remain in a tight budgetary situation as a country.

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