Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was quite confused by that as well. The situation is that if the school has an existing second teacher, it must have that minimum number to retain that teacher. However, if the teacher is lost to the school, it requires substantially more than nine pupils - I cannot recall the exact figure - in order to regain that post. The figure for retention of the teacher and the figure to gain a new post over and above are two different figures. That is the situation that has applied over many Governments and it remains the case.