Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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101. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which optimum pupil-teacher ratios continue to be an objective in primary and second level schools throughout the country, having particular regard to the needs arising from demographic trends; if cognisance continues to be taken of particular areas which exceed the national average in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30016/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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102. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the extent to which optimum class sizes continue to be an objective in primary and second level schools throughout the country having particular regard to the needs arising from demographic trends; if cognisance continues to be taken of particular areas currently exceeding the national average in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30017/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 101 and 102 together.

We have a growing population of young people in this country and despite the difficult financial circumstances we face as a country, we prioritised education so that the number of teachers we have in the system has also grown in order to protect pupil teacher ratios. There are a thousand more teachers employed in schools around the country this school year, than there was the year before. While there has been a moratorium on recruitment across other sectors in the public service, this has not applied to teaching and shows the commitment this Government has to educating our future generations.

The Department of Education and Skills key statistics for the 2013/14 academic year show that the number of pupils attending school has increased by 9,895 at primary level and 4,331 at post-primary (excluding PLCs). Despite these massive rises, pupil teacher ratios at primary school have dropped slightly from 16.4 to 16.3, while they have remained constant at second level at 13.9.

The primary level statistics on class size data for the 2013/14 school year show the national average class size is 24.8 pupils. With over 21,000 classes in over 3,100 primary schools throughout the country there will always be variations in class sizes at individual school level.