About 1,395 national school classes have pupil numbers in excess of the Department of Education's guideline of a maximum of 35 pupils. The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, said he was aware of such classes, which were often the result of a decision by a school management seeking to create smaller classes elsewhere in the school.

The Fine Gael spokesman on education, Mr Richard Bruton, said there were 54,000 children in classes which had pupil numbers over the official guidelines of a maximum of 35 in a single-grade class, 34 in a two-grade class, 31 in a multi-grade structure and 29 in schools designated as disadvantaged.

Mr Martin said 44 extra teachers had been allocated last year to take account of over-large classes.

Mr Bruton said a ratio of 30 to one would cope with approximately 1,300 pupils. "We have 54,000 children in classes that have over 35, not 1,300. The Minister must accept that if a maximum is to mean anything, it must mean the norm and this is not the norm."

Mr Martin said there had been a considerable reduction in class sizes. There were 55 in his own class. He was still concerned that the figure of 43 classes with more than 40 pupils had not been improved on.

Mr Billy Timmins (FG, Wicklow) asked if a knock-on effect of large classes was that a teacher could not give individual attention and gave out much homework as a result, with senior infants receiving more than an hour. Mr Martin said he would be very popular if he insisted on reducing the amount of homework. However, he hoped teaching infants and senior infants would not be based on such an approach. More could be done in supporting schools with homework clubs, particularly for children from disadvantaged areas.

The Department occasionally received complaints about excessive amounts of homework. These were investigated and recommendations were made.