Vol. 495 No. 1
425 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Education and Science to clarify the situation of teacher loss in a school (details supplied) in Dublin 9; when this school was notified of this; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that two classes now have 39 pupils each; if an exception can be made in this instance in view of the circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19636/98]
The eleventh assistant teaching post in this school was lost at the end of 1997-98 school year due to the decline in the enrolment from 328 in September 1996 to 312 in September 1997. The retention figure for the eleventh assistant was 322.
The school was informed of the suppression of this post by a letter dated 21 May 1998 which issued from the primary branch of my Department.
My Department has received no notification in relation to the current class sizes in the school. However, should the school authorities find that they are unable to arrange classes to comply with the guidelines on maximum class size, they should submit details to my Department so that the position may be examined.
