Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted to be here for this. I served a long time on the education committee and actually chaired it a number of years ago. It is a powerful committee in advancing education policies, and I look forward to working and engaging with members this evening. I welcome the officials from the Department. I thank the committee for the opportunity to consider of the Department's Supplementary Estimate for 2025.

Following approval by the Government, the Department is seeking a net Supplementary Estimate of €567 million for 2025. This Supplementary Estimate includes additional funding to provide for costs required in the demand-led service areas of payrolls, pensions and transport, and continued services that are needed for Ukrainian students in the school system. I will briefly outline the key elements for the information of the committee.

There were additional pay requirements in the school sector for teachers, SNAs and other non-teaching staff of €455 million. This includes resources for additional staff allocated to schools in line with existing policies and set special education recruitment criteria. This is in a demand-led service area that is determined primarily by the level of school enrolments and the needs of pupils across some 4,000 individual schools.

The number of school enrolments also includes pupils who have arrived in Ireland as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine.

These enrolments require additional school staff, including English as an additional language teachers, mainstream and special needs teachers and special needs assistants. In 2025, costs relating to the war in Ukraine were funded from a temporary contingency fund. Additional funding from this contingency fund is required due to the level of Ukrainian pupils that remain enrolled in our schools. Some €96 million of additional school transport funding is required for the provision of additional services. This is due to the increased number of pupils seeking places on school buses, especially pupils with additional needs, and an increase in bus contractor rates that are publicly-procured services. There are also increased pension costs of €29 million arising due to the costs associated with the number of school staff retiring being greater than the funding originally provided. The Supplementary Estimate also seeks to reallocate €9 million of existing capital funding to current expenditure for the shared island programme aimed at addressing educational underachievement.

An estimated additional €13 million in appropriations-in-aid income in excess of the amount provided for in the original Revised Estimates Volume allocations is included in the Supplementary Estimate which will partly offset the expenditure pressures I outlined earlier. This relates to increases to the pension contributions received due to additional numbers being employed in our schools and some additional capital expenditure receipts. I am happy to discuss these issues in more detail. I commend the Supplementary Estimate to the committee.