Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 April 2026
119. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of children attending primary school in 2025/2026 in classes of 30 or more children; the number attending in classes of 29 or less; the number attending in classes of 24 or less, in tabular form; the efforts she is making to reduce class sizes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29043/26]
View answerPlease find attached requested data.
The data supplied is collated from the 2024 Primary Class Size tables published on the DEY website and can be found at the link below. We expect to publish class data for the 2025-2026 academic year in June 2026.
www.gov.ie/en/collection/class-size-information-at-individual-primary-school-level/.
Under the Programme for Government there is a commitment to aim to reduce the general pupil teacher ratio at primary level to 19:1 over the term of government and introduce targeted measures in schools with very large classes. This will build on the progress which has been made by the previous Government. The general average of pupils to teachers in the Primary Staffing Schedule improved from 26 : 1 five years ago to 23 : 1 for the current school year, the lowest ever ratio at primary level. More favourable ratios are implemented for DEIS Urban Band 1 schools. I am considering how best to make further progress as part of the annual budgetary process in reducing the primary pupil teacher ratio in the context of Programme for Government implementation.
2024-2025 Academic Year
|
Class Size |
Pupils |
|
24 or less |
292,801 |
|
29 or less |
485,604 |
|
30 or more |
43,458 |
Note: Data is taken from POD and is for mainstream pupils in mainstream classes who were enrolled as per the census date 30th September 2024.
