Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I remind the Minister, in the context of the symposium he mentioned, that some islands with small populations which have small numbers in their schools have particular practical difficulties if they are reduced to one-teacher schools. It is kind of ironic that on 4 July last year, I raised the exact same question with the Minister's predecessor following the INTO briefing, which many of us attended again this year. We know the pupil-teacher ratio has been increased twice. That is all very welcome. The ratio in some of the DEIS schools in the north inner city is very good, but our primary classes are still the largest in the eurozone. We have to reduce them. The capitation grant was €178.50 in 2008. It went up to €200 in 2009 and 2010. Since then, it has been falling each year. In 2019, it went back up to €178.50, which is the rate that applied in 2008. Even though schools do a marvellous amount of fundraising, the capitation grant continues to be very important. It needs to go back to what it was. It needs to keep going upwards rather than downwards.

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