The primary teacher's union INTO has called for more spending on primary school education after the publication today of OECD figures which show Irish spending in the area compares badly with other OECD countries.
The OECD's annual summary of the state of education shows that while the Irish economy has grown by more than 70% since 1995, education spending has only increased by 45%.
The INTO says there is a huge discrepancy in where that money is spent.
While investment in primary and second level education has increased by 34% since 1995, third level spending has increased by more than 100%.
The OECD figures also show that while countries such as Denmark, France, Germany and Norway spend at least 10% of their education budget on pre-school education, Irish investment in this area barely registers at less than 1%.
In a statement this evening on the figures, the Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey, said Ireland needed to focus more resources on primary education.
