Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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10. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the upcoming loss of a teacher in a school (details supplied) and the progress or lack thereof in reducing class sizes in view of the Covid-19 pandemic; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30223/20]

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I wish to express my support for St Louis Infant School where some parents in my constituency send their children. They have written to the Minister seeking reassurance on the imminent loss of a teacher. They have said that they would usually accept this reluctantly, but given that we are in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, they are very concerned about the implications for class sizes caused by the losing of a teacher. Given yesterday's budget, will this school be able to retain its teacher?

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. The staffing schedule is an allocation mechanism that uses enrolment bands to determine the number of classroom teaching posts allocated to a school. This is a long-standing arrangement, as the Deputy will be aware, for allocating teaching posts to our primary schools in a fair and equitable way based on their respective enrolment. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally, irrespective of their location. For the 2020-2021 school year at primary level it operates on the basis of one classroom teacher for an average of every 26 pupils, which is historically the lowest level. I am very pleased to say, as the Deputy himself has mentioned, that under budget 2021 as announced yesterday, that this will be further reduced to a ratio of 25:1 from September 2021.

The staffing arrangements for primary schools also include a provision whereby schools experiencing rapid increases in enrolment can apply for additional permanent mainstream posts on developing grounds, using projected enrolments for the following September. The school referred to by the Deputy was allocated a temporary teaching post on this basis as the school had indicated that it was expecting an enrolment of 334 students in September 2020, which was a projected increase of 39 pupils. My Department has recently received an enrolment return of 277 pupils from this school as at 30 September and it is clear that the school has not experienced a growth in enrolments. Instead, its overall school enrolment has gone down from last year. This school is 57 pupils below what it had indicated as its projected enrolment for September. The school has submitted an appeal to the primary staffing appeals board which will be considered at its meeting later this month which is the usual process, as the Deputy will be aware. This process is ongoing and the school will be informed of the board's decision in due course.

Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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The school is looking at an average size of 30 pupils in a class, which is significantly above both the 26 that we started with and the 25 which will be enabled by budget 2021. I underline again the issues on room capacity, the need for social distancing for health and safety reasons in a pandemic, and the loss of teaching time caused by the loss of a teacher and exacerbated by school closures, which increase the health and safety risks. I hope that the appeal will take into account the realities that this school is facing, the overly large class sizes that it is now going to face, and the health and safety issues that school has highlighted. I hope that the promise of budget 2021 will also reach this school.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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This is an issue that is arising throughout the State with schools that are just narrowly missing out on the school census. These circumstances change. Some are related to Covid-19, like Glasheen school near me, where many of the parents may work in hospitals and universities, who may perhaps be international and who may not be there next year. Many such schools have lost out. They may be in old buildings where breaking up classes is not an option. I know that additional teachers are mentioned in the budget specifically for this purpose but the issue of the many schools that have lost out on teachers needs to be dealt with urgently.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank both Deputies. As I have already outlined, the school staffing schedule is 26:1 and will in the future be 25:1. I acknowledge, as referred to by both Deputies, the current situation with Covid-19 and I confirm again that a substantial package of measures was put in place to ensure that schools could operate as advised under the safe schools reopening plan. A package in excess of €375 million, which has been increased in recent months, was made available. Among the package of supports was minor works programme funding, which was given to schools so that space could be reconfigured within schools and general purpose areas reimagined as required to give the additional capacity. Equally the substitution panel was introduced for the primary schools so that in an instance where a teacher was unavailable to work, a substitute would be available immediately and classes would not have to be subdivided.

I reiterate that the appeals process that is in place is working independently. The adjudication from that appeals process will be issued in the next number of weeks.