National school teachers says "the time has come" for the Government to hire new teachers to bring down class sizes.
Department of Education figures show that almost one in four primary pupils are now in classes of 30 or more - with Irish classrooms now the largest in Western Europe.
Classes in the commuter belt are under the most pressure - with average sizes in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown at 26-point-3; with Fingal and Meath close behind on 26-point-1.
Pat Crowe is a teacher at the North Kildare Educate Together in Celbridge Co. Kildare.
He's been teaching for 28 years and his largest ever class had 42 pupils in 1987;
Mr. Crowe says it's the children in the middle who are worst affected, they can get left behind.
And he says there ends up being a greater focus on discipline in larger classrooms.
Bullying is also harder to spot, as the teacher can't have time with individual children.
