2026-06-10

Is mian liom labhairt faoin chruachás ina bhfuil Bunscoil Chríost Rí. De réir cosúlachta, beidh sí síos cúigear múinteoirí don bhliain atá romhainn. Bunscoil Chríost Rí is a primary school in the Turner's Cross area of Cork city. It is a very well-established school with a high reputation which does exceptionally good work. The Minister of State might be familiar with the school. It is probably the primary school the Taoiseach attended. The school currently faces a worrying situation for the 2026-27 school year. It could be down five teachers for the next year. I want to focus on the English as an additional language allocation. I will go through the manner in which the school could be down five teachers. For enrolment reasons, it appears the school will lose two mainstream teachers. It is on the borderline, in that the school might be able to keep one because it has 455 students on the roll - the key date for enrolment was 30 September. That is a significant blow. The school is asking that consideration be given to that. The special education teacher hours were cut from 205 to 230. When school management considers its allocations, it is trying to understand what it has and how it can meet the needs in different ways. The school serves the Turner's Cross area, as well as a wider area. Many children come in from the Kinsale Road accommodation centre, which is the direct provision centre close to the airport. There is a high degree of diversity, including linguistic diversity, in the school. That has to be supported and resources need to be put in place for that. The school has had a permanent English as an additional language post since 2013. For the past three years, the school has successfully applied for and received an additional two English as an additional language fixed-term posts due to the large English as an additional language numbers. The application form or process seems to have changed this year without any engagement, discussion or schools being made aware of it. In September 2025, as was the case in previous years, schools were informed of the situation and a table was provided which outlined the number of new entrant pupils and teaching hours per week. For one to four new entrant pupils there were five teaching hours, for nine to 13 there were 15 teaching hours and for 21 to 30 there were 25 teaching hours. That criteria seems not to have been included this year and does not seem to have been disclosed to schools. For this year, the school had 39 category A and 49 category B pupils, which is much the same as last year in terms of the number of children with English as an additional language requirement for support. Due to the fact that the goalposts seem to have shifted, the school will now go from two full-time posts for English as an additional language to ten hours per week. That is a huge blow in and of itself. When a reduction in special education teaching hours and two full-time general allocation teachers being lost are added to that, it is a huge blow and it will be very difficult for the school to adjust to that.

The primary school staffing schedule is a long-standing feature of the primary allocation system which ensures fairness and transparency in the allocation of mainstream class teachers in primary schools across the country. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided in an individual school is a staffing schedule for the relevant school year and the number of pupils enrolled on the previous 30 September. Staffing arrangements for primary schools for 2026-27 are set out in Circular 0025/2026. Having an enrolment of 479 pupils in September 2024, Bunscoil Chríost Rí has a current mainstream staffing of an administrative principal and 20 mainstream teachers. The information given to me is that school enrolment fell to 453 pupils last September. The Deputy mentioned the figure was 455. Perhaps that is something we might check. This enrolment allows for mainstream staffing comprising an administrative principal and 18 classroom teachers for the 2026-27 school year, with two fewer teachers than are currently in place. The school also has additional supporting staff comprising nine special education teachers, one English as an additional language, EAL, teacher and three special class teachers under the rural DEIS and non-DEIS home school community liaison initiative. The school has been allocated a shared home school liaison teacher based on enrolment for the 2026-27 school year. The Department has adapted to the dynamic landscape of student enrolment and has prioritised enhanced English as an additional language support. An online portal system was introduced in the current year to allow schools to apply in a timely and efficient manner. Following the application process, Bunscoil Chríost Rí has been informed of an EAL allocation of ten hours per week for the 2026-27 school year in addition to the permanent EAL post that is in place within the school. This is less than the current EAL allocation and corresponds with an increase in the overall enrolment in the school enrolments of pupils with EAL needs. As I understand it and as it is presented to me, the school is not losing five teachers in the 2026-27 school year. The staffing arrangements, and I would be very strong on this, which have been long-standing, include arrangements for an appeals mechanism for schools to submit a staffing appeal under certain published criteria. The primary staffing appeals board meets three times a year. The board met in May and will meet again later this month. It is important that the school, if it wishes, should submit an appeal on the staffing allocations to the appeals board with all the necessary supporting information it can have from the school cohort and the school community as well. This will be a crucial meeting of the appeals board in June this year to try to ensure we have everything in place for September insofar as possible. However, I encourage the school to make sure an appeal is submitted. The application forms are available on Circular 0025/2026. It is important we have sight of that and that a decision is made by the appeals board which, as the Deputy knows, is independent of the Department. Information should be submitted as soon as possible.

Some of what I said is to give context to the way that this is being compounded. The key part to focus on is the English as an additional language aspect. The school is disappointed to be down by two mainstream teachers. However, they understand there are criteria regarding numbers. The 455 is by way of illustration that they have hit the bar on another date. Had the key date been another date, they might have been successful in keeping another teacher. However, the key part is the English as an additional language. The permanent position is still there, but they are effectively down by two positions in that area alone. This year they submitted 39 category A. According to the table I have here in front of me from last year and previous years before that, for the bracket 31 to 40 hours, that would have been 35 hours alone, even before we get into the 49 category B. This is a school that is supporting a community that has a high degree of linguistic diversity, that includes a lot of children from direct provision from the Kinsale Road centre and is supporting a community which has mixed needs but certainly pockets of disadvantage. The goalposts have shifted here. That is the bit I would like the Minister of State to take back to the Department. Schools were not informed that there would be a different approach to the calculation in terms of EAL. The policy compounds that with the loss of the two permanent general allocation teachers and the loss of the special education teacher. Separately, it is now looking like there will be a loss of special needs assistant, SNA, hours. All of these things are compounding this, but the key injustice here is the fact that the goalposts have shifted and schools were not informed of this in advance. From having effectively three EAL positions it now looks as if the school will have one and ten hours. That is a huge loss, when the same number of children who have those needs are involved. Those children will now be in bigger classes, with access to fewer special education hours. That is a huge problem. I want the Minister of State to take that back to the Department. The goalposts shifted and the school is down because of it significantly.

We have a huge level of investment in terms of teachers. The past number of years have seen more than 5,000 extra teachers within the school system. That is little comfort to Bunscoil Chríost Rí. In order that we are all understanding this, there is no reduction in SNAs from 2025 to 2026 or from 2026 to 2027. The Deputy will be aware of the documentation that was launched last week on the SNA workforce development plan, the redeployment plan and the new circular. That is setting out our roadmap for SNA employment. There will be no cliff edge in relation to schools or school communities into the future. It is important to understand that. In regard to the point on the numbers, my information is 453.

The criteria are different this year.

The Deputy mentioned 455.

That is the general allocation. The English as an additional language is the key bit.

The Minister of State will respond.

I believe my information is correct in relation to that. I take the Deputy's point on the numbers and the acceptance of the school community. We have put in a huge amount. Bunscoil Chríost Rí has a huge reputation as a massive school within the Turner's Cross area, as the Deputy outlined. Any information that is submitted to the Department in terms of an appeal will be adjudicated on. I know the school is facilitating and working with a diverse community as well. It is important to say that this policy documentation has not shifted the goalposts in a dramatic fashion. These are long-standing issues we have had. It is important that if the school, and I believe it will, submits an appeal, that appeal will be adjudicated on in a timely fashion to ensure that certainty is brought to the school community in advance of September 2026.