Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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380. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full year cost of reducing the pupil teacher ratio to 18:1 in all primary schools. [44937/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to seek to make further progress in reducing the pupil teacher ratios in primary schools.

For the 2021/22 school year, an improvement of one point in the appointment threshold in primary schools has been introduced and schools have been provided with class teachers on the basis of of 1 teacher for every 25 pupils which is a historical low ratio. Lower thresholds are in place for DEIS Urban Band 1 schools. In addition, a three point reduction in the retention scale has also been introduced. These measures will help to ensure that less pupils are required to recruit or retain a teacher

Each one point adjustment to the primary staffing schedule would require approximately 300 teachers at an approximate annual cost of €14.5m.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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381. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full year cost of reducing the pupil teacher ratio to 18:1 in all post-primary schools. [44938/21]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Teacher allocations to all schools are approved annually by my Department in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment. The criteria for the allocation of posts are communicated to school managements annually and are available on the Department website. 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 would result in an additional 1150 teaching posts at an estimated cost of approximately €56.5m per annum.