Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein)
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418. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary and secondary schools across areas in south-east Dublin; the staff to student ratios and levels of each by patronage in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9545/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy may be aware, data on schools across the country is available on my Department’s website, www.education.ie under the “Find a School” function. Schools can be searched for using a number of different criteria including, inter alia, School Level, Geographical Area and Ethos and key information on the relevant schools, including enrolments from the 2019/20 academic year, is displayed in the results. A map of the relevant schools is provided as part of the "Find a School" functionality.

Full lists of all schools at primary or post primary level can also be downloaded from my Department's website and these provide further data on individual schools. These lists can be filtered by local authority and/or county which may be helpful.

In respect of staffing at schools, the criteria used for the allocation of teaching posts is published annually on the Department website. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources (teachers) provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The staffing schedule operates in a clear and transparent manner and treats all similar types of schools equally, irrespective of location. For the current school year (2020/21), 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. In DEIS schools, the staffing schedule operates at a more preferential allocation ratio.

For the upcoming school year (2021/22) at primary level the staffing schedule will operate on a general average of 25 pupil to every 1 teacher (25:1).The staffing schedule for the 2021/22 school year will be published in the coming weeks. It is at this stage that schools will be able to establish their staffing for the coming September and the redeployment process to fill teaching vacancies will begin.

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.