Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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188. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is aware of a recent staffing allocation decision for the 2025-2026 school year that has resulted in the loss of a mainstream class teacher at a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22468/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September.

The staffing process contains an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain criteria to an independent Primary Staffing Appeals Board. The school referred to by the Deputy submitted an appeal to the March meeting of the Appeals Board. The staffing appeal was deemed ineligible as the school was not projecting sufficient enrolment to retain the teaching post.

The configuration of classes and the deployment of classroom teachers are done at local school level. The Department's guidance to schools is that the number of pupils in any class is kept as low as possible taking all relevant contextual factors into account (e.g. classroom accommodation, fluctuating enrolment etc.). Given that the staffing schedule operates to a general average of 1 classroom teacher for every 23 pupils, if a school has a large class it generally also has a small class.