Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. As I understand the current situation, once the pupil-teacher ratio is at or above 56, the school is entitled to retain or get a third teacher. I am open to correction on that. I further understand that there are about 20 schools which will lose a third teacher over the coming months. If the ratio was dropped to 53, that would not arise.

I have a personal interest in this matter as I started off in the same class in primary school as the current president of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO. She raised the matter when I met with her recently and I agreed to raise it in the House. It needs to be reviewed. It is not easy to manage 55 or 56 pupils in a two-teacher school. There might also, for example, be one school with 54 pupils and two teachers and another up the road with 57 pupils and three teachers. That is causing problems in rural areas. I ask that the Department of Education and Skills give consideration to the matter.