One in five primary school pupils in classes of 30 or more last year

Almost one in five primary school children were in classes of 30 or more last year, with six schools recorded as having classrooms with 40 or more pupils.

An analysis of data published by the Department of Education on more than 22,700 mainstream classes in over 3,100 primary schools across the Republic show 19.8% of all pupils are in classes which could be considered overcrowded.