School Enrolments
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-23
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Robert Troy (FF), Longford-Westmeath

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23