I wish to highlight an urgent and exceptional situation facing St. Patrick's National School in Calry, County Sligo, which requires immediate and practical intervention to ensure children in this community can access the education they are entitled to. St. Patrick's National School is experiencing unprecedented staffing pressures for the 2026-2027 school year. The school has already pursued the appropriate channels and submitted an appeal to the appeals board for an additional teaching post. Despite presenting a strong case, the appeal was unsuccessful. The school met three of the four criteria required for consideration. The only unmet criterion was the requirement to have enrolled more than 30 junior infants in each of the previous two years. However, this single unmet condition does not reflect the reality on the ground. The school has submitted substantial additional information to demonstrate the exceptional circumstances it now faces which cannot be addressed within the limits of the standard criteria. For September 2026, the school has already received 45 completed applications for junior infant enrolment. This is almost double the 24 pupils enrolled in the 2025-2026 cohort. No places have yet been allocated but the scale of demand is clear. The intake is far above the national average for a single-stream junior infant class. It also represents a cohort with early intervention needs in literacy, oral language, numeracy and social development. The board of management, the school's patron and the planning and building unit of the Department of education have all approved the opening of a second junior infant stream for September. The school has the physical capacity to accommodate this class. It has a vacant classroom ready to be used. Crucially, no additional capital investment is required. The nearest alternative school, which these children would not ordinarily attend, is already oversubscribed, operating a waiting list, and has no capacity to take additional pupils. The overwhelming majority of applicants for September 2026 are siblings of existing pupils. These are families who have already entrusted their children to St. Patrick's National School. The school has a clear obligation to meet this local demand. What are these parents supposed to do now? The school currently has seven mainstream teachers and one unused classroom. Without an additional teaching post, it is simply not possible to split classes further or to manage the projected enrolment in a way that is safe, sustainable or educationally sound. The combination of sustained enrolment growth, a significantly oversized junior infant cohort and the need for a senior split class clearly constitutes an exceptional circumstance. It is also important to note St. Patrick's National School will meet the threshold for an additional teacher in September 2027. Based on current projections the enrolment will exceed 192 pupils on 30 September 2026 with a projected enrolment of 203 children. In other words, this is not a temporary spike, it is a sustained upward trend. Given the scale and projected enrolment, the absence of alternative school capacity and the school's readiness to accommodate an additional class without any capital expenditure, the case for immediate intervention is compelling. For these reasons, I request urgent approval for additional teaching posts for September 2026. This is a necessary and proportionate response to ensure children in Calry can access the education they deserve in their local school alongside their siblings in an environment that supports their learning development.

Sentiment score: 0.13

I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge the primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and I understand from the response to my representation that its decision is considered final. However, what is at stake goes far beyond the numbers or technical criteria. The decision not to allocate an additional teacher to St. Patrick's National School is, in practical terms, short-sighted and it risks having a deeply damaging impact on children, on families and on the wider Calry community. This is not an abstract administrative issue; it is about whether 45 four and five-year-olds have a fair, safe and appropriate start to their education. We have already seen comparable situations addressed differently. In March 2025 the Department sanctioned the opening of a second junior infants class at Dunshaughlin Community National School in County Meath. This intervention demonstrated that flexibility is both possible and appropriate when exceptional pressures arise. The circumstances now facing St. Patrick's National School deserve the same level of examination and the same fair treatment. The reality is simple. The school cannot absorb over 45 incoming junior infants without an additional teacher. Current projections show that significant challenges would place unsustainable pressures on teaching, learning and deployment of special education resources. The school has a classroom ready and it requires no capital investment. Based on projected enrolment, the school will qualify for an additional teacher in September 2027. The need is clear, the space is available and the demand is already at the door. Surely it makes sense to act now to prevent disruption, distress and the educational fallout that will inevitably follow if this situation is not resolved. The current system of allocating teachers based on the previous year's enrolment is no longer fit for purpose. We need a model that uses projected enrolment so schools are not left scrambling when large junior infant cohorts arrive. Schools across the country are experiencing rapid growth. Relying on outdated figures only creates avoidable crises like the one we are facing now. For these reasons I urge the Minister of State and the Department to intervene and approve the allocation of the additional teaching post for September 2026.

Sentiment score: 0.08