Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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133. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide primary and post-primary average class size figures for Ireland and for other EU member states; his plans to tackle large class size concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10674/17]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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150. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated timeframe for, and cost of, the Government programme commitment to reducing the pupil-teacher ratio in junior and senior infants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10692/17]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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152. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if consideration will be given to further improvements in the pupil-teacher ratio to help reduce the class size towards EU average in budget 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10694/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 133, 150 and 152 together.

Budget 2016 provided for an improvement in the staffing schedule in primary schools by 1 point, from 1 teacher for every 28 pupils to 1 teacher for every 27 pupils for the 2016/17 school year and it should be noted that the current staffing schedule of 27:1 for primary schools has restored it to the position it was at prior to the fiscal crisis.

The Programme for Government has a commitment to reduce class sizes at primary level and it is my intention to make further improvements to class sizes over the life of the Government.

My focus in Budget 2017 was on obtaining additional funding to provide for demographic growth, and additional special education and school leadership resources for our schools.

Budget 2017 sets out the resources available for schools in the 2017/18 school year.  This Budget represents the start of a major reinvestment in education, and the first phase of implementation of the Action Plan for Education, aimed at becoming the best education system in Europe within a decade.  The budget provides for over 2,400 additional teaching posts for our primary and post-primary schools in the coming school year.  The 2017/18 school year will see a significant increase in teacher numbers (almost 4,700) in our schools compared to the 2015/16 school year.

The Statistics Section of my Department's website contains extensive data relating to schools, including information on class sizes.