2026-06-23

I wish to highlight an urgent and exceptional situation facing St. Patrick's National School in Calry, County Sligo, which requires immediate and practical intervention to ensure children in this community can access the education they are entitled to. St. Patrick's National School is experiencing unprecedented staffing pressures for the 2026-2027 school year. The school has already pursued the appropriate channels and submitted an appeal to the appeals board for an additional teaching post. Despite presenting a strong case, the appeal was unsuccessful. The school met three of the four criteria required for consideration. The only unmet criterion was the requirement to have enrolled more than 30 junior infants in each of the previous two years. However, this single unmet condition does not reflect the reality on the ground. The school has submitted substantial additional information to demonstrate the exceptional circumstances it now faces which cannot be addressed within the limits of the standard criteria. For September 2026, the school has already received 45 completed applications for junior infant enrolment. This is almost double the 24 pupils enrolled in the 2025-2026 cohort. No places have yet been allocated but the scale of demand is clear. The intake is far above the national average for a single-stream junior infant class. It also represents a cohort with early intervention needs in literacy, oral language, numeracy and social development. The board of management, the school's patron and the planning and building unit of the Department of education have all approved the opening of a second junior infant stream for September. The school has the physical capacity to accommodate this class. It has a vacant classroom ready to be used. Crucially, no additional capital investment is required. The nearest alternative school, which these children would not ordinarily attend, is already oversubscribed, operating a waiting list, and has no capacity to take additional pupils. The overwhelming majority of applicants for September 2026 are siblings of existing pupils. These are families who have already entrusted their children to St. Patrick's National School. The school has a clear obligation to meet this local demand. What are these parents supposed to do now? The school currently has seven mainstream teachers and one unused classroom. Without an additional teaching post, it is simply not possible to split classes further or to manage the projected enrolment in a way that is safe, sustainable or educationally sound. The combination of sustained enrolment growth, a significantly oversized junior infant cohort and the need for a senior split class clearly constitutes an exceptional circumstance. It is also important to note St. Patrick's National School will meet the threshold for an additional teacher in September 2027. Based on current projections the enrolment will exceed 192 pupils on 30 September 2026 with a projected enrolment of 203 children. In other words, this is not a temporary spike, it is a sustained upward trend. Given the scale and projected enrolment, the absence of alternative school capacity and the school's readiness to accommodate an additional class without any capital expenditure, the case for immediate intervention is compelling. For these reasons, I request urgent approval for additional teaching posts for September 2026. This is a necessary and proportionate response to ensure children in Calry can access the education they deserve in their local school alongside their siblings in an environment that supports their learning development.

I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughton, who sends her apologies that she cannot be here to today. I thank Deputy Scanlon for his strong advocacy on behalf of St. Patrick’s National School. The primary staffing schedule is a long-standing feature of the primary allocation system which ensures fairness and transparency in the allocation of mainstream class teachers across our primary schools, regardless of location. 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 arrangements for primary schools for the 2026-27 school year are set out in Circular 0025/2026. St. Patrick’s National School has a current mainstream staffing of an administrative principal and seven mainstream class teachers based on an enrolment of 177 pupils as of 30 September 2024. The mainstream staffing of the school is due to stay the same for the 2026-27 academic year based on the returned enrolment of 182 pupils as of 30 September 2025. The staffing arrangements include an appeals mechanism for the school to submit a staffing appeal under certain published criteria. The school’s staffing appeal was unsuccessful. The primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. The staffing arrangements also include a projected enrolment process whereby schools experiencing significant increase in enrolment may apply for additional mainstream staffing. I acknowledge what the Deputy said and commit to him that I have taken it on board. He mentioned that further information has been submitted in relation to the exceptional circumstances. There is capacity within the school with an existing free classroom that can be used, putting no additional demand for capital resources, and many of the additional students are siblings of existing pupils of the school. While I cannot commit to overturning any decision this evening, I will relay to the Minister the strong case Deputy Scanlon has made on behalf of the school and ask the Minister to reply directly to him as a matter of urgency.

I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge the primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and I understand from the response to my representation that its decision is considered final. However, what is at stake goes far beyond the numbers or technical criteria. The decision not to allocate an additional teacher to St. Patrick's National School is, in practical terms, short-sighted and it risks having a deeply damaging impact on children, on families and on the wider Calry community. This is not an abstract administrative issue; it is about whether 45 four and five-year-olds have a fair, safe and appropriate start to their education. We have already seen comparable situations addressed differently. In March 2025 the Department sanctioned the opening of a second junior infants class at Dunshaughlin Community National School in County Meath. This intervention demonstrated that flexibility is both possible and appropriate when exceptional pressures arise. The circumstances now facing St. Patrick's National School deserve the same level of examination and the same fair treatment. The reality is simple. The school cannot absorb over 45 incoming junior infants without an additional teacher. Current projections show that significant challenges would place unsustainable pressures on teaching, learning and deployment of special education resources. The school has a classroom ready and it requires no capital investment. Based on projected enrolment, the school will qualify for an additional teacher in September 2027. The need is clear, the space is available and the demand is already at the door. Surely it makes sense to act now to prevent disruption, distress and the educational fallout that will inevitably follow if this situation is not resolved. The current system of allocating teachers based on the previous year's enrolment is no longer fit for purpose. We need a model that uses projected enrolment so schools are not left scrambling when large junior infant cohorts arrive. Schools across the country are experiencing rapid growth. Relying on outdated figures only creates avoidable crises like the one we are facing now. For these reasons I urge the Minister of State and the Department to intervene and approve the allocation of the additional teaching post for September 2026.

Teacher numbers at primary schools have reached the highest ever level in the current school year. Currently there are over 43,000 teaching posts allocated across the primary school system. This represents an increase of just over 5,000 teachers when compared to the 2019-2020 year. This has led to a steady improvement in the pupil-teacher ratio and to average class sizes reducing in this period. The Government has significantly invested in our schools and in our teacher workforce in recent years. Deputy Scanlon will be aware that the programme for Government commits to making further progress in this area with an aim to reduce the general pupil-teacher ratio at primary level to 19:1 over the term of the Government. That is all very well but it does not answer Deputy Scanlon's point here this evening. The Deputy makes a very strong case in relation to the enrolment for this year, the projected enrolment next year, the high number of junior infants that will be in the school, and the challenges that presents. The Deputy said there is existing capacity within the school and there is no capital requirement for putting on additional space. I am taking on board all of these points here this evening and I commit to the Deputy that I will relay them back to the Minister, Deputy Naughton. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy urgently with a reply to the points he has raised on behalf of his school here this evening.