St. Joseph's co-ed primary school in East Wall in Dublin has been told it will lose two teaching posts from September. The school appealed the decision but was told last week that the appeal was unsuccessful.

The Department says it will cut one teaching post due to enrolment numbers. The school is one pupil short to retain the teacher - just one pupil. The other post to be cut is a legacy post that has been there for decades and covers the school's reception class programme. This programme does incredible work and plays an important role in supporting children's early language development, school readiness and transition into junior infants. This is a success story. It is a model for DEIS schools but it will be cut. These cuts are simply unconscionable. Will the Minister intervene to ensure they are reversed?

While the Deputy has outlined some of the details, I obviously do not know all of the facts of the case. I know that when it comes to teacher allocation, it is very much based on pupil numbers. Where you have such a small gap between what would allow the second teacher, there are always appeals that can take place. I know from experience that sometimes it is not fully understood how to put in the appeal because if your numbers are going to go up in the following year, if it is within a certain figure, you can retain the teacher. I ask the Deputy to engage with the school directly and to encourage it to look at the appeal process more broadly. I will bring to the attention of the Minister the other specific legacy post.