School Staff
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-11
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Timmy Dooley (FF), Clare

I thank the Deputies very much. It is refreshing to see everybody on the same side of an important issue like this.
Addressing educational disadvantage and ensuring that every child and young person can reach their full potential is a key priority for this Government. The DEIS plus scheme represents a significant expansion of targeted educational supports. It is designed to provide enhanced, evidence-based supports to schools with the highest concentrations of children and young people experiencing persistent and intergenerational disadvantage. Approximately 30,000 children and young people nationally will benefit from inclusion in the scheme in 121 schools.
Schools in the DEIS plus scheme will receive strengthened, research-informed supports across well-being, attendance, engagement, guidance, leadership capacity, community partnerships and access to services, including the introduction of a new positive mental health and well-being initiative to support a whole-school approach to student well-being. As part of St. Francis National School’s inclusion in the DEIS plus scheme, the school will gain a positive mental health and well-being co-ordinator, PMHW, which is a full-time post of one teacher, and two administrative release days per week for the school’s deputy principal.
Teacher numbers at primary level 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 with the 2019-20 school year, and this has led to a steady improvement in the pupil:teacher ratio and average class size during this period. In recent budgets, prioritisation was given to reducing the pupil-teacher ratios in primary schools, which has brought the teacher allocation ratio to an average of one classroom teacher for every 23 pupils in all primary schools, the most favourable ratio ever seen at primary level. More favourable ratios are implemented for DEIS urban band 1, including DEIS plus schools, at an average of 17:1, 21:1 and 19:1 for junior, senior and vertical schools respectively. A three-point reduction in the retention schedule, which was introduced in 2021, assists schools that would otherwise be at risk of losing teaching posts.
The latest figures relating to pupil-teacher ratio show an improved ratio of pupils to teachers, from 15:1 to 12.8:1, at primary level when comparing the 2019-20 school year to the 2024-25 school year. In the same period, the primary staffing schedule improved from 26:1 to 23:1 and average class sizes at primary level have improved from 24:1 to 22.2:1. 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 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.
St. Francis Junior National School currently has ten mainstream teachers. As the school’s enrolment fell below the required enrolment threshold for that level of staffing, which all the TDs have identified, the mainstream staffing is due to be reduced by one in September.
I realise that others have said the number fell-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-11