Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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414. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full year cost of reducing the pupil teacher ratio to 18:1 by paying all staff on the pre-2011 pay scale.. [24805/20]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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415. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of reducing the pupil teacher ratio from 1:27 to 1:22. [24806/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 414 and 415 together.

Teachers are currently allocated to post primary schools at a ratio of 19:1 in the free education system and 23:1 to schools in the fee charging sector. Each 1 point adjustment to the pupil teacher ratio at post primary level is estimated to cost in the region of €55.5m per annum.

At primary level, the annual staffing schedule determines the allocation of teachers to schools. For the current school year, it operates on a general average of 26 pupils to every 1 teacher (26:1) which is historically the lowest ever allocation ratio at primary level. Each one point adjustment to the primary staffing schedule would cost approximately €14.5m annually.