Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Cathaoirleach's office for choosing this Commencement matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, and congratulate him on his new position. I understand this is his first time in the Chamber since becoming a Minister of State. I wish him well in his role in the months ahead.

I wish to raise the minor works grant and the ICT grant for primary and post-primary schools across the country. On 1 April, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, made an important announcement from the Department of Education regarding the important grants in question. The minor works grant allocation, totalling €29 million, was announced at the time to support the operation of primary schools and post-primary schools in the forthcoming year. The lead-in period ahead of the new school year will give schools good time to consider plans and priorities for the use of funding, we were told. Of the €29 million, primary schools in Galway will get €1.8 million, which is very welcome. This allows for good flexibility in addressing issues at local level.

Also announced at the time was some €50 million for the ICT grant. We are told it will be issued to all recognised primary and post-primary schools. The grant is to allow for the implementation of the digital strategy for schools up to 2027, which is welcome, and the Department has stated it will support schools to ensure they continue to embed the use of digital technologies in their teaching, learning and assessment. In Galway, it was projected that primary schools would receive approximately €1.7 million and post-primary schools would receive a total of €1.169 million, resulting in a total fund for Galway of €2.873 million.

The announcement on 1 April was very welcome but I have been contacted by numerous principals of primary schools regarding the minor works grant and principals of post-primary schools regarding the ICT grant. They want to know where the money is and when they will get it. They have budgets to prepare and they have to plan, so they need to know the funding individual schools will get. As we know, school principals are under significant pressure all the time. There are certain funding requirements to keep schools running, so principals need to know the minor works grants primary schools will receive and the ICT grants primary and post-primary schools will receive. My question is very simple: when will the Department be issuing the individual grants to individual schools? The schools need the money to budget. They need to know what they are getting and when they are getting it. Does the Minister of State have that information for me today?