Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I fully recognise the need to improve capitation funding for schools and in the Action Plan for Education, I have committed to the restoration of capitation. I am pleased to have been able to provide for a 5% increase in capitation funding for primary and post-primary schools that will apply from the start of the 2019-20 school year this autumn. Over the course of the school year 2019-20, an additional €10 million will be allocated to primary and post-primary schools, of which €4 million will be allocated in 2019. I must be prudent. In the context of ongoing budgetary pressures, it is not possible to do everything that I would like to do in the education sector in any one year. It is my intention to seek funding in the next budget for further capitation increases for schools.

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