Seanad debates
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
School Funding
10:30 am
Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke. I congratulate him and wish him the very best in his new role. He is certainly no stranger to this Chamber and we look forward to working with him.
Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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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?
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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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.
Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the announcement of the minor works grants being processed and issuing to schools in the coming days. That is welcome as long as it happens. When this announcement was made initially, it was that they would be paid soon, so I welcome that the Minister of State said they will be processed in the coming days. I also welcome what was said on the ICT grants. I have been contacted by a number of principals in recent weeks and indeed at the weekend about this payment, so I am delighted it has now been paid. I look forward to the remaining minor works grants being paid in the coming period.
Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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It is important to outline that Galway received €19.1 million in minor works funding in the period 2018 to 2024 and €1.8 million in 2024. Therefore, the total funding for schools in Galway is €20.9 million in the period from 2018 up to present. It is substantial funding. I understand from a further note I received that the funding the Senator is talking about will be announced today or will be made available from today, but that is an unofficial note. Today is 24 April and I think the funding will be announced today.
I assure the Senator that the Department is conscious of the need to continue to support the operation of the school system. The Department recognises the importance of minor works grants and ICT grants to schools. It has a strong record of delivery and continues to have a strong pipeline of projects for delivery under the school building programme. All of this work is supporting and facilitating more than 960,000 primary and post-primary students in our school system, including more than 18,000 children from Ukraine and just over 26,000 children with additional needs enrolled in close to 3,000 special classes and in our 130 special schools.
The ICT grant of €50 million to all primary, special and post-primary schools for the 2023-24 school year has now issued to all recognised schools. The minor works grant of €29 million is currently being processed. My understanding from a further briefing note I got is that it will be announced today. The Senator's Commencement matter had an influence on the Department as well, so I thank him.