INTO urges Government to hire 1,000 primary school teachers immediately

The INTO has urged the Government to commit to hiring 1,000 primary school teachers in October’s budget.

The union, which represents national school teachers, says this is needed in order to help children thrive and stop the closure of small schools.

Tracie Tobin is the INTO's representative for Kerry and Limerick.

She says the Government committed to reducing the average pupil-teacher ratio from 23 to 1 to 19 to 1 but this hasn’t happened.

Ms Tobin says there’s been no reduction in class sizes in primary schools in the past three years.