Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07 ============================================================ Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East There is a very clear commitment in the programme for Government. We have seen a reduction in recent years, in particular under the previous Government. We know the impact it has on students and on teaching, coupled with the significant increase in the number of teachers, including special or additional needs teachers who are supporting our mainstream classes. We know when we walk into a classroom now there are more teachers there and more support there at the same time. We need to make sure that no classes go beyond the number that we have clearly identified. We all know there are some schools where the numbers are higher than they should be. We want to do everything we can to reduce that overall number. That will take time and will have to happen over a series of budgets, but it is something we are committed to. --- 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/2026-05-07/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-07