School Accommodation Dail Éireann — 2020-07-30 ============================================================ Norma Foley (FF), Kerry On that point, prior to 2016, teachers were allocated to primary schools at a general average of one teacher for every 28 pupils, but budget 2016 improved that ratio by one point to 27:1. Budget 2018 provided for a further point improvement to the staffing schedule so that teachers are allocated on a general average of one teacher for every 26 pupils, with effect since September 2018. This is the lowest pupil-teacher ratio ever at primary school. I am very conscious of the staffing schedule and the need to prioritise teacher allocations in primary schools given their vital role in communities across the country. I am looking at how best to make further progress in reducing the primary school teacher-pupil ratio in the context of the programme for Government implementation. I will continue to look at that in the context of the budget as we move forward. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2020-07-30/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:30+00:00 Sitting date: 2020-07-30