Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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74. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to change pupil-teacher ratios. [42195/13]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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80. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will maintain the pupil-teacher ratio in schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42248/13]

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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81. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if cuts in budget 2014 will mean even larger class sizes for pupils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42211/13]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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84. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if an impact assessment has been carried out in relation to class sizes in the north Kildare and east Meath areas of high population growth; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the proposed increase in the pupil-teacher ratio would have severe effects on these areas at a rate beyond other areas of the country; his Department's modelling for future teacher deployment in areas where the birth rate is currently high; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42018/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 74, 80, 81 and 84 together.

The budget for education, including the number of teaching posts that we can afford to fund in schools is a matter that I will have to consider with my colleagues in Cabinet in the context of the forthcoming budget. The decisions in relation to such matters will be announced at budget time. A particular challenge in the education sector is on ensuring we have school places and teachers for the thousands of additional pupils entering our schools each year.

The Government will endeavour to protect frontline education services as best as possible. However, the context for any discussion about PTR and class sizes is the requirement to bring our overall public expenditure into line with what we can afford as a country. The challenge will be to ensure that the resources that can be provided are used to maximum effect to achieve the best possible outcome for pupils.