Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to be here this morning together with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan and officials from my Department. I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak to members and for its consideration of my Department’s Supplementary Estimate for 2021. Following approval by the Government, my Department is seeking a net Supplementary Estimate of €267 million for 2021. This is a significant supplementary requirement from my Department and represents a variation on the Department’s overall net allocation for 2021 of some 3%. One of the main drivers of this requirement is my Department’s ongoing response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on our schools, for example, increased substitution, personal protective equipment, PPE, and additional staff. We have continued our broader programme of investment in our schools, such as our significant investment in schools’ information and communications technology, ICT. We have also continued to progress much-needed school building projects in light of the significant pressure on the schools building programme.

My Department has provided detailed briefing on this Supplementary Estimate for members but I will briefly outline the key elements for the information of the committee. There is an additional pay requirement in the school sector of €60 million under a number of subheads. For context, the pay allocation for the schools sector is more than €5.6 billion in 2021 and, therefore, this represents a variation of some 1%. Payroll for school teaching and non-teaching staff spans four subheads in Vote 26, three of which require additional allocations with one showing a saving. The overall excess is mainly due to the need to allocate funding for staffing resources in schools, in particular, for the new Covid learning and support scheme, CLASS. This scheme is designed to mitigate learning loss and support pupil and student mental health and well-being in light of the impact of school closures in 2020 and 2021. The scheme commenced in October of this year.

An allocation is also required to meet the 1% pay increases for staff in the sector from 1 October 2021, which were not provided for in the original Revised Estimates Volume, REV, and a range of other payroll subhead pressures that are being partly offset by a reduction in substitution costs arising from school closures in January to March 2021. An additional €8 million, which equates to a 0.6% increase, is required to meet the projected cost of superannuation for retiring school staff. The latest projected number of teacher retirements and the individual cost of pension lump sum payments arising in 2021 are greater than originally forecast. An additional allocation of €58 million is required to cover the cost of a further round of Covid-related capitation grants paid to schools in September. Members will recall that the REV included an allocation for such grants for terms 2 and 3 of the 2020-21 year.

Given the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19, it was previously flagged to the committee that an allocation in respect of term 1 would be made at a later point. I am pleased that schools have now received funding to enable them to replenish stocks of PPE and hand sanitiser and to meet enhanced cleaning and supervision costs for the current term. I can also confirm that it is my intention that a further such payment will be made to schools in early 2022 for the next term of the school year.

A significant additional capital allocation is also provided for in this Supplementary Estimate. A sum of €102 million of this allocation is by way of investment in ICT in our schools. A sum of €52 million is being provided under the national recovery and resilience programme for two projects in the education sector. One is to support learners in schools who are most at risk of educational disadvantage because of lack of access to appropriate digital infrastructure. The other strand, which has now commenced, aims to provide high-speed broadband to those primary schools where the national broadband plan, NBP, and commercial provision will not be in place to provide the required level of connectivity. The funding for these projects is being front-loaded by the Exchequer but will be reimbursed from the EU's recovery and resilience fund. Further ICT funding is included for schools. A Supplementary Estimate of €98 million in capital funding is being sought for my Department's schools building programme. The reason for the Supplementary Estimate requirement is significant budgetary pressure driven primarily by a strong spend and delivery in 2021 across the entire programme. This strong delivery has been facilitated by the continued progression of schools building projects during the Covid period to support the operation of the school system. This includes provision for an early payment of the minor works grants to all primary schools. This is particularly important in supporting schools to manage any ventilation issues at school level. A saving of €20 million on school transport is also being taken into account in this Supplementary Estimate. This projected saving is mainly due to the reduced costs arising during the school closures at the start of 2021.

An estimated additional €53 million in appropriations-in-aid in excess of the amount provided for in the original REV allocations is included in this Supplementary Estimate and will partly offset the expenditure pressures I have outlined. The bulk of this additional income is represented by increased pension contributions, with some additional funding having been received due to refunds by schools of unspent Covid grants.

I am happy to discuss these issues in more detail. I commend the Supplementary Estimate to the committee.