Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Boards of management, principals and parents' committees across this country are struggling to run schools due to the lack of a proper adequate funding structure.

I ask the Minister for Education and Skills to introduce a defined timescale for the payment of minor works grants to all schools. Is he aware that delays in the payment of approved minor works grants are causing huge financial difficulty for schools that are trying to keep their accounts in credit and that the Department has said that such grants will be considered in the context of the Department's overall capitation position, which is unfair for schools desperately in need of these moneys? I am all too aware of these problems as I was a teacher for 35 years, 23 of which were spent as a teaching principal in a small primary school that struggled every year, regardless of who was in Government.

Circular 62/2013 states that the grant will only be paid in future years as funding permits. However, the grant first came into operation in 1997 and has been issued in all years since then with the exception of the 2012-13 school year. Schools rely on the grant as part of their operational income as there is always a need for funds to cover the type of works covered by the scheme. The Acting Chairman, Deputy O'Rourke, discussed this matter with me on many occasions in regard to the issue of playgrounds in his constituency not being available to be used because of delays in minor works grants. If we are serious about health and safety as well as improving children's physical health, surely this issue needs to be addressed and we need to ensure it is on a firm footing.

The principals of schools in my constituency are under a lot of stress trying to balance the books as schools are not permitted to go into overdraft except in exceptional circumstances. They have told me that the minor works grant has not yet issued this year. In answer to a parliamentary question I tabled earlier this year, the Minister said that the overall 2017 capital position, and expenditure levels in particular, would be assessed in the late autumn and that the issue of the 2017-18 minor works grant would be determined at that time.

One of the principals to whom I have spoken said that she, along with a huge number of her colleagues around the country, is absolutely outraged to be back in this position. There has been much engagement on the topic on the website of the Irish Primary Principals Network, IPPN. There is no point issuing IT grants, for example, if principals cannot keep the school running on a day-to-day basis. The minor works grant should be mandatory rather than dependent on money left over at the end of a calendar year.

The schools in question are depending on the grant arriving in November. Their principals are fearful that the schools will not otherwise get to January, when the first of the capitation grant money arrives, without applying for an overdraft. This can be extremely stressful for staff. Many schools are reliant on parents' committees constantly running fundraisers to get them through, along with the minor works grant.

The Capital Review 2016-20 states in regard to the minor works grant to primary schools: "It is not possible to maintain the school infrastructure without the payment of the minor works grant and an annual summer works scheme.” Primary schools are the Cinderella of the Department's funding regime and I ask the Minister to address the issue.

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