A European Parliament report has ranked Ireland close to the bottom when it comes to the provision of physical education classes in primary schools.
A total of six out of ten Irish primary schools are judged to have inadequate facilities and equipment for PE. The report compares physical education provisions across the EU.
Irish schools give less time to the subject than almost any other European country with a minimum curriculum guideline of just 30 minutes a week. Only Britain scores as low.
The report finds that three quarters of Irish schools do not even reach the minimum of 30 minutes and some Irish primary schools do not teach any PE at all.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, pointed out that another report last week found that Irish children were the second most active across more than 30 countries.
But the INTO has said the report highlights the lack of PE facilities and equipment in Irish schools.
