Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On page 87 of the programme for Government document, it states there is a commitment to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio to produce smaller classes and have a greater and more beneficial impact on younger pupils. I am particularly interested in this in the context of smaller schools in rural Ireland. In my home parish of Aghavas, only two children started school this year and were stuck in a situation which saw the school reduced from three teachers to two. In Kiltyclogher in north Leitrim, where one of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, Seán MacDiarmada, was born, it is expected that the school will close in the next two years because there are no more children arriving in that community. One of the reasons for that is rural depopulation. One cannot receive a signal on one's mobile phone and there is no broadband there. We have all of these issues in rural Ireland. The specific issue I wish to ask about today is the pupil-teacher ratio. In the budget in the next couple of weeks, will the Government do something to ensure the pupil-teacher ratio is brought into line with other European norms to ensure that our smaller schools in rural Ireland will not be under threat?

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