Up to 40 per cent of all pupils in some west Dublin schools are foreign nationals - but the level of provision for them is grossly inadequate, the INTO conference heard yesterday.
The union's incoming vice-president, Angela Dunne, said Department of Education limits meant only a maximum of 28 pupils could receive language support in a school - even though a great deal more were seeking it.
Some large schools, she said, report numbers of newcomer children making up 25 to 30 per cent of their school population.
"In some cases, these schools are situated in areas which have levels of socio-economic disadvantage, with the attendant demands that this brings on the school.
"In these areas, the already stretched resources of schools, in terms of buildings, teaching staff and other supports are unable to adequately meet the needs of the increased school population."
David O'Sullivan (Dublin west) said that when he began teaching in 1999 there was only one foreign national in his 600-pupil school. Today, there are over 80. One-third of all pupils in junior infants were newcomer children.
The main assistance provided by the Department of Education and Science for newcomer children is English language-support teaching. Schools with 14 or more non-English speaking children are entitled to a full-time teacher. But this support is capped at two teachers per school. Mr O'Sullivan said the cap meant his school had to adopt what he called a "Ryanair policy" with hugely over-subscribed groups of pupils seeking support and a quick turn around time by teachers, as they seek to support them. The INTO is demanding that the cap on the number of language-support teachers should be lifted.
It also wants to see the time limit - which gives newcomer children only two years of language-support - removed. It would also like the provision of classroom assistants to help with these children's social and emotional needs.
Ms Dunne said the issue of providing an adequate service for newcomer children has become one of the biggest challenges faced by many schools in the country. The cap of two teachers in a school means that many are unable to provide an adequate service.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin is reviewing provision for non-nationals in schools.
She has acknowledged that two years of language-support may not be enough in some cases.
The Department says 800 teachers are providing language-support in Irish schools at a cost of €47 million.
Ms Dunne said many schools found it difficult to get teachers with expertise and experience in teaching English as a second language. "There is no proper system of professional development for teachers in this area."
Since 2002, a total of 170,600 immigrants are estimated to have arrived in Ireland. Some 17,900 of these immigrants were under 14 years of age. In the same period, the primary school population has risen by approximately 5,000.
The identification of special educational needs in newcomer children can also be problematic as tests used for assessing intelligence are acknowledged to be language biased, according to the union.