Minister for Education Helen McEntee has said she does not believe that any school should have just two pupils and that "conversations need to be had" with a number of schools whose enrolment has fallen to this level.
The minister was commenting on an RTÉ News story which revealed that five mainland primary schools have more staff than pupils.
Four of the schools have just two pupils, while a fifth listed just one child in its latest enrolment returns to the Department of Education. All are within a few kilometres or less from another similar primary school.
"It shouldn't be for the department to force schools to close, but if we get to a situation where it is not conducive to learning, it is not supportive of the children, then I believe conversations have to be had, and they are being had with certain schools," the minister said.
Pointing out that a decision to close a school could only be taken by the patron of the school - which in the case of these five primaries is the Catholic church - Ms McEntee said: "We want to support small schools, but obviously not to the detriment of young children."
The five schools all have at least three staff comprising teachers, SNAs and full-time secretaries - with salaries paid by the State - and they all receive the same level of day-to-day state funding as a school with 60 pupils.
She said she was also speaking "as a mum of two young boys".
Ms McEntee added: "My preference is that children would be in a school where they have classmates, where they have the ability to learn from each other, and that can’t happen where you only have two or three students.
"I want to make sure that we work with the school, but ultimately, it has to be about what is best for the child."
Two of the schools - Stonetown National School in Co Louth and Ballyfad National School in Co Wexford - have announced that they will close at the end of this school year.
The patron of a third school, Flemby National School in Co Kerry, has said its future is under consideration.
The two other schools are Attymon National School in Co Galway and Scoil Mhuire gan Smál in the village of Lixnaw, Co Kerry, which recorded just one pupil enrolled last September but has a staffing allocation of two teachers and one SNA.
"We obviously have to look and see what is appropriate and what is not," Ms McEntee said.
