Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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233. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if it is the case that in a school (details supplied) in County Louth children are being taught in classrooms with in one case 36 and in another case 37 children; if the school is entitled to employ additional teaching staff to ease the issue of overcrowding in the school; the steps he has taken to address the issue of overcrowding at the school; if there are health and safety regulations in respect of the number of children who can be taught in the one classroom at any one time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39238/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The criteria used for the allocation of teachers to schools is published annually on the Department's website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.

The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally irrespective of location. The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level. The staffing arrangements for schools for the current school year, 2013/14 are set out in Department Circular 0013/2013 which is available on the website.My Department publishes annual statistics on class size data for each school. The most recent statistics are for the 2012/13 school year. The national average class size is 24.7 pupils. However, with over 20,800 classes in over 3,100 primary schools throughout the country there will always be variations in class sizes at individual school level. My Department's guidance to local school management is that such variations should be kept to the minimum.

In accordance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989, it is the responsibility of individual school management authorities to have a safety statement in place in their schools. The Statement should identify potential hazards, assess the risks to health and safety and put appropriate provision in place to safeguard the safety and health of employees and pupils. The Safety Statement should be reviewed on a regular basis.