A new international study has found that Irish primary school students scored above the average in reading, maths and science.

However we failed to make it into the top performing countries in any of the 3, particularly maths and science.

Ireland was ranked 10th in reading out of 45 countries; 17th in maths out of 50 countries; and 22nd in science out of 50 countries.

Irish & religion in schools

Speaking at the launch of the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn congratulated teachers and students but he warned against "complacency". 

Minister Quinn said he is "concerned" by the large proportion of time allocated to teaching Irish and religion in schools.

And he said he would like to see more time devoted to teaching science and maths.

Students in Northern Ireland performed better than their counterparts in the Republic in reading and maths.

This is largely because of a new literacy and numeracy strategy, which was implemented in 2008. 

Minister Quinn congratulated them on this and said he hopes to "emulate" their success.