Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 530: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes at each school, primary and second level in Naas, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40658/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 531: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes at each school, primary and second level in Clane, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40659/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 532: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes at each school, primary and second level in Kilcock, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40660/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 533: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes at each school, primary and second level in Leixlip, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40661/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 534: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes at each school, primary and second level in Maynooth, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40662/06]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 535: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she is satisfied with the pupil-teacher ratio and class sizes at each school, primary and second level in Celbridge, County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40663/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 530 to 535, inclusive, together.

The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available in my Department and would take an inordinate amount of administrative time to compile.

As the Deputy will be aware, there are now no less than 4,000 extra teachers in our primary schools, compared with 2002. Furthermore, there are nearly 7,000 more primary teachers than there were in 1997. This represents the largest increase in teacher numbers since the expansion of free education.

The average class size in our primary schools is 24 and there is now one teacher for 17 pupils at primary level, including resource teachers etc.

The number of children in large classes has been significantly reduced. When this Government first came into office, there were more than 52,000 children in classes of 35 and over — five times the number that there were in the last school year. There were also more than 1,900 children in classes of 40 and over — compared to just over 200 in 05/06.

While I appreciate the need to make further progress in reducing class size, it should be acknowledged just how much has been achieved. In recent years, priority has rightly been given to providing extra support for children with special needs, those from disadvantaged areas and those that need help with their English.

Special education provision in particular has undergone a level of expansion the extent of which nobody could have predicted a few years ago — and this was only right. If we had put all 4,000 of the teachers hired since 2002 into classroom teaching, our average class size would be a lot smaller than it is now. But we would have done a great disservice to those children who need extra help the most. I am sure the Deputy would accept that we have taken the right approach.

Now that children with special needs are finally getting the support they deserve, we are providing extra teachers this year and next specifically to reduce class sizes, through a reduction in the mainstream staffing schedule. This has meant that, whereas all primary schools were staffed on a general rule of at least one classroom teacher for every 29 children in the 05/06 school year, in the current school year there is a general rule of at least one teacher for every 28 children. Of course, schools with only one or two teachers have much lower staffing ratios than that — with two teachers for just 12 pupils in some cases and so on — but the general rule is that there is at least one classroom teacher for every 28 children in the school. Next year, we are committed to hiring even more extra teachers in order to reduce this to a general rule of at least one teacher for every 27 children.

We also acted this year to specifically address the needs of growing schools by making it easier to qualify for a developing school post. Over 280 such posts were sanctioned for the 2006/07 school year, compared to 170 in 2005/06. This change specifically addressed the needs of schools which are seeing large increases in their enrolments year on year.

On the Post Primary side allocations are approved by my Department on an annual basis in accordance with generally applied rules relating to recognised pupil enrolment. In general a ratio of 18:1 is applied in respect of recognised pupils on established Junior Certificate, Leaving Certificate, repeat Leaving Certificate and Transition Year Programmes and a ratio of 16:1 is applied in respect of recognised pupils on the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme, Post leaving Cert courses and Leaving Cert Applied.

Each school management authority is required to organise its curriculum, teaching time-table and subject options having regard to pupils' needs within the limits of its approved teacher allocation. Significant improvements have been made in the pupil teacher ratio at post primary level in recent years. The ratio has fallen from 16:1 in the 1996/97 school year to 13:1 in the 2005/06 school year.

The improvements we have made in school staffing in recent years are absolutely unparalleled. But we are determined to go even further, and so the 2007 Estimates include provision for another 800 primary teachers. About 500 of these will be classroom teachers, which includes our commitment to reduce class sizes.

I assure the Deputy that we will continue to prioritise further improvements in school staffing going forward. We will also continue our focus on measures to improve the quality of education in our primary schools to ensure that increased resources lead to better outcomes for our children.