Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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218. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to requests since early 2012, if she will include severe geographic isolation and impossibility of amalgamation with another school because of distance, as a grounds for appealing a mainstream teacher allocation for two, three and four teacher schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34962/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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As part of the Budget 2012 decisions, the number of pupils required to gain and retain a classroom teaching post in small primary schools was gradually increased between September 2012 and September 2014. The final phase of the budget measure took effect from September 2014.

Educational quality for the pupils has to be one of the main criteria in any consideration of primary school size. How best to sustain provision for widely dispersed and small communities does present as a particular challenge, especially in any locality where enrolment in their schools is declining to single figures and amalgamation is not an option because there is no other school nearby.

Our current configuration of small primary schools has been examined by the Department in a value for money (VFM) review. This review took account of the ethos of schools and the locations of small schools relative to other schools of a similar type. I will be considering this review in consultation with my Government colleagues and I intend to publish the report on completion of this consideration process.