David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----the significant progress that has been made in terms of an increase in school enrolment, and this is most evident in the steady increase in pupil numbers in the infant classes." Numbers are increasing. There should be another teacher. "The school appropriately affords a high priority to early intervention and aims to keep the class sizes at infant level as small as possible [...]. The recently published Follow-Through inspection report notes that the school is making good progress in raising the standard of achievement of pupils and in fostering a culture of improvement." Can we stop this? Can we afford to stop this where, in the most desperate circumstances, with children from the most deprived areas living in the most difficult circumstances, they are making improvements? They need the retention of this teacher.

The school board writes:

The pupil-teacher ratio for Scoil Chaoimhín is significantly higher than for other DEIS 1 schools in the Dublin 1 area [...] our appeal for an extra teacher is supported by the school's district inspector and divisional inspector [.] The workload on the staff and the stress associated with it cannot be sustained in the medium and long term without extra teaching support. The extra teacher would in some way recognise the truly exceptional circumstances that the school finds itself in. The school is poorly resourced to deal with the trauma it faces on an ongoing basis amidst the gangland violence of the North East Inner City.