An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-10
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Eileen Lynch (FG), Agricultural Panel

I rise this morning to speak about education and teaching across the country. I have attended, as I am sure many here today have too, the INTO briefing across the road to get its insight into the way things are at the moment within our primary school education system. The INTO's ask is for 1,000 new teaching posts, which will cost €78 million. I appreciate this is a large sum of money and if we are to do this, it will be on an ongoing basis.
This is an investment we cannot afford not to make. If we look around the country, while we see our class sizes are the lowest they have been in two decades, at 23, we are still four ahead of the EU average. We are comparing very poorly with countries which are not as economically well-off as we are but where the average is 19. An addition 1,000 teaching posts across the country would reduce the pupil-teacher ratio of 20:1. From speaking to teachers, not just this morning but all across my area of north-west Cork, this is the first time in quite a few years there has been no difficulty in fulfilling new teaching posts. There are a lot of people returning from abroad as qualified teachers. We also have a lot of people graduating from our teaching colleges here. There will not be any difficulty in getting these people.
It would make a difference in every single classroom for the teachers. It is not always 23 students but that is the average. A decrease from a ratio of 23:1 to 20:1 would mean teachers would have more time to deal with children who have additional needs and more time to focus on those kids who need a little bit of extra help. There are so many kids stuck in the squeezed middle who need that little bit of additional help but, at the current moment and with the current pupil-teacher ratios we have, they are not getting that. If we look at predicted closures of schools across the country due to them coming under the pupil-teacher ratio, we are looking at 19 potential closures in Munster. Decreasing the pupil-teacher ratio would give a lifeline to these schools.
I am asking to bring the Minister for education in here to discuss this. I know there are a lot of pressures on the budget but we need to discuss this and it is a very important form of long-term investment.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-10