Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to split my contribution between the primary and secondary sectors and the third level sector. I know the Minister had to leave. I thank her and her Department for the help and support she has offered to my Waterford office in relation to individual student cases and under the capital schools programme, which is very important to us in Waterford county and city. We are working on a number of school programmes and I thank the Minister for her assistance. Before she left, I had intended asking her about the hygiene infrastructure in schools, particularly HEPA filters. I have seen them deployed in some but not all schools. I question why they have not been deployed. They are a necessary technology. The schools not using them should be asked to do an air audit and publish it for the school board so its members understand whether the ventilation is up to scratch.

We recently met the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, which has several asks of the Government in the upcoming budget, some of which are very pertinent. One in particular is to reduce class size by two points. The INTO is also seeking the restoration of school posts of responsibility. Compared with 2009, there are now approximately 370 fewer assistant principal positions in the system and approximately 2,000 fewer assistant principal II positions in the system. This is having quite an effect on school management and the running of schools and must be examined. These posts were available in 2009. The INTO is also seeking a 20% increase in the school capitation grant, which amount to approximately €21 million net per fiscal year. Given the significant inflationary costs schools face in terms of energy, facility maintenance and general running costs, this must be considered. It is having a significant effect on schools' performance and is a key reason they engage so heavily in asking for voluntary contributions. I hope the Government will examine this in the upcoming budget.

I was going to direct some remarks to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, but after he gave a kicking to Sinn Féin, he left, so I will have to direct them to the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming. They relate to student accommodation costs at third level. The cost for students living away from home is a punitive form of regional taxation. Technological University Dublin, TUD, estimated that living way cost €13,300 per annum, which is laughable when we consider that University College Dublin, UCD, is currently charging as much as €10,700 for a student accommodation bed in the academic year. In the south east, more than 60% of our school-leavers leave the region for further and higher education. This is, as I said, an unfair and unjust tax on parents in the south east.

The Minister is presiding over a massive setback for the South East Technological University, SETU, with respect to its aspirations to provide teacher training. Based on a recent Department report, technological universities will not be able to play any meaningful part, despite the fact that SETU had massive strength in master's programmes in the school of education. The Minister was recently able to award a refurbishment grant of €30 million for an engineering building in University College Cork, UCC. In addition, he just announced €125 million in funding to develop a school of business in UCC. At the same time, we in Waterford are still waiting for the purchase of the glass factory site to lead the development of SETU. We have also been waiting since 2014 for the awarding of a tender for a new school of engineering. It is business as usual, unfortunately, in terms of further and higher education. I ask the Minister of State to bring these matters to the attention of his colleague and to ask him when these projects will be moved on and when the south east will get a fair and equitable share of the education budget, which is currently wholly reserved for the large-scale universities.

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