Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson and Senator Kyne for their kind remarks.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it gives me the opportunity to provide an update to the House on the current position of the schools building programme and the imminent payment of minor works and ICT grants. Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested in the region of €4.5 billion in schools throughout the country.The school building programme is adding capacity and developing and upgrading school facilities for the almost 1 million students and more than 100,000 staff who learn and work in our schools every day. The minor works grants and ICT grants are one important element of a record level of capital investment in schools.

The Department recognises the importance of the minor works grants to primary schools. This funding provides good flexibility at local level to assist schools to manage and undertake works that support the operation of the school. Under Project Ireland 2040, a commitment has been given that the minor works grant will be paid in either December or January of the school year to all primary schools, including special schools. In recent years, the Department's approach has been to pay the minor works grants to primary schools in advance of the start of the following school year in order to facilitate a better lead-in period for schools to plan any maintenance or minor works during the summer period.

Between 2018 and 2023, in the region of €310 million in minor works grants and enhanced minor works grants has been allocated to schools. The minor works grants for the current school year 2023-24 were paid in April 2023. The Minister recently announced that the minor works grants of €29 million for the 2024-25 school year would issue to all primary schools. The Department is making arrangements for these payments to issue in the coming days. All schools have the autonomy to use this funding for maintenance and small-scale improvements to school buildings and grounds. Given that each school setting is different, individual schools are best placed to decide how best to use this funding to address their needs.

The Minister also recently announced an ICT grant of €50 million to all primary, special and post-primary schools for the 2023-24 school year. This funding has now issued to all recognised schools. The funding is the second tranche of the overall package of funding of €200 million for ICT infrastructure, as provided for under the digital strategy for schools to 2027. It is anticipated that the balance of funding from the €200 million under the national development plan to underpin the digital strategy will issue over the remaining years of that strategy, subject to the wider capital needs of the Department. This grant issue builds on the €210 million already allocated under the previous strategy, digital strategy for schools 2015-2020: enhancing teaching, learning and assessment, and the €50 million issued under Ireland’s national recovery and resilience plan to enable schools to support learners at risk of educational disadvantage through the digital divide.

The aim of the digital strategy for schools to 2027 is to build on progress made in the use of digital technologies. This funding underpins the ongoing commitment to supporting and enabling schools to ensure the continued embedding of digital technologies in teaching, learning and assessment. The funding issues directly to schools as they are best placed to understand their needs in the context of the digital learning planning undertaken by all schools.

I assure the Senator that the importance attached by schools to both the minor works and ICT grants is fully recognised, as is the significant impact of these grants at school level.