The quality of Ireland’s education system is recognised internationally. This legacy of excellence, built on high quality teaching and supports, continues to deliver strong outcomes, even in the face of growing pressures.
Yet today, the education system finds itself at a critical juncture. As costs rise, demand increases, and long-standing underinvestment becomes impossible to ignore, the question confronting policymakers is becoming more urgent: how can Ireland sustain its success and ensure the education system remains fit for purpose for the next generation?
A strong track record
Thanks to a highly educated workforce of teachers, principals and support staff, Irish students consistently perform strongly across international benchmarks such as PISA, PIRLS, and other OECD and EU indicators. Irish students’ results are consistently at close to the top in literacy and reading, and among global leaders in numeracy and science.
Beyond test scores, the system has also made notable strides in reducing barriers to participation in education. Retention to Leaving Certificate level has risen markedly and participation in further and higher education has expanded. Progression rates to third level education are well above the EU and OECD averages. Targeted programmes have helped young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress further in education than ever before. The introduction of free schoolbooks, and significant expansion of the school transport scheme have eased financial pressures on families. Class sizes in primary schools have been progressively reduced in budgets and other countries now look to Ireland as a model for balancing excellence with equity.
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Excellence on low investment
OECD Education at a Glance 2025 reports Ireland’s education spending at 2.8 per cent of GDP, below the OECD average of 4.7 per cent and the lowest among 34 nations. Government regularly challenges this analysis, saying that when more appropriate measures are used, Ireland’s investment is broadly on a par with other countries.
Despite this, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) finds that Ireland is at the “efficiency frontier” for education, meaning it delivers among the best educational outcomes relative to the money spent. In other words, Ireland is a global leader in converting limited resources into strong educational outcomes. But this raises an important question: how much more can be achieved without additional investment?
Interpreting efficiency
The IMF’s finding does not imply that Ireland spends enough on education, only that it spends efficiently. When investment falls below international norms, high efficiency can mask deep structural deficits. OECD data shows that Ireland’s relative investment in education fell between 2015 and 2021, even as demand and system pressures increased.
Teacher unions warn that schools are struggling to cover their basic running costs, class sizes remain above European norms and funding at both primary and post-primary level is described by unions as “dire”. Where Ireland is already operating at the frontier of efficiency, further improvements in student outcomes will likely require additional funding, not further efficiencies.
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Rising costs
Meanwhile, the pressure keeps growing. Rising costs, from public sector pay agreements, to cost of living supports, have pushed government budgets significantly upwards, but in this case, not nearly enough to meet the needs of the almost one million children in our schools.
Since 2003, there are over 200,000 extra children in the system. In the last five years, an additional 38,000 students entered our classrooms. Increases in the number of children with additional needs – now one in four or 240,000 children – have driven an unprecedented expansion in special education. This necessitated 16 new special schools, 4,000 new special classes, and thousands of additional teachers and SNAs. Cost of living increases required additional funding for schools’ running costs. Long awaited school building projects required additional funding to proceed. These investments have delivered important services but have also increased significantly the cost of running the education system.
Growing demand
The right to Education is constitutional, statutory and grounded in international law. Education funding has been traditionally demand-led – more children require more teachers and more schools, and so, more funding. This year, the Department of Education will oversee funding to about 4,000 schools, providing education every day to almost one million children and young people in Ireland. This will be delivered by a workforce of about 111,000, including 103,000 teachers and SNAs.
However, changes to fiscal policy in recent years have meant the department has been expected to operate within strict expenditure ceilings, making it increasingly difficult to meet existing service requirements, never mind Government commitments such as further reducing class sizes or expanding other supports. The result is a widening gap between policy ambition and system expectation on the one side, and financial constraints on the other.
Mounting tensions over spending
Political leaders have signalled a strong desire to continue to provide necessary supports for students with additional needs, to provide greater assistance for schools grappling with rising operating costs in an ageing estate, and to invest in education as a key enabler for the economy and wider society. This is reflected in current Programme for Government commitments. These priorities, however, require sustained investment that current financial ceilings do not accommodate.
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The years ahead
The coming years will be telling. Will the education sector receive the investment required to keep its international status and keep pace with rising demand and long-standing pressures in areas such as special education, school buildings, and overall system capacity?
Ireland’s education system has demonstrated resilience, innovation, and exceptional efficiency. But even the most efficient system cannot operate indefinitely on insufficient investment.
Looking ahead, the question is stark: Will Ireland finally fund its education system at a level consistent with its ambitions, or continue relying on its workforce to do more with less?
