Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Government and the Minister for Education promised that primary and post-primary schools would have ongoing funding for ICT budgets until 2027, when there would then be a review. This budget, which is calculated on the type of school and the roll numbers, was to come from a €200 million package announced by the Government and to be provided to the schools in the period 2022 to 2027 as part of the national development plan, NDP. Without consultation, the ICT budget for schools seems to have disappeared and has not been allocated to schools for the 2022-23 school year.

The reply to a recent parliamentary question I submitted on this issue stated that it is hoped to issue the next tranche of funding in the 2023-24 school year no later than January 2024. The reply also stated that, as with all funding, the issuing of the grant was subject to the availability of Exchequer funding and the wider capital needs of the Department. There was no mention in the reply of what happened to the funding for 2022-23. There is also no definite commitment for subsequent years, as promised, up to 2027. It is dependent on Exchequer funding.

Several schools who had thought this budget would be ongoing have signed up to outsourced and ongoing technology support packages, which they must now find funding for from alternative avenues. The schools presumed this funding would be available each year for the five school years because this was what the initial announcement indicated. Schools planned their expenditure based on this assumption. As technology changes so frequently, many schools decided to lease the necessary equipment and entered into contracts for the duration of these leases for ongoing support and upgrades.

Since 2018, schools have been required to develop or update their digital strategies in line with the digital learning framework for schools and within the framework, it is stated that there is a whole-school approach and commitment to the effective or highly effective use of digital technologies in teaching and learning. The opening paragraph from the Minister for Education in respect of the digital strategy stated that it envisaged a future where every learner would have ample opportunity to benefit from technology in his or her learning and would develop key skills for the digital world. In 2023, the Department launched a new primary curriculum framework and within it, schools are expected to implement being a digital learner as one of a number of key competencies. The science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, curriculum area also includes digital technology. I cannot see how any of the above will be possible without the promised ICT budget.

The circular on the digital strategy, Circular 0027/2022, refers to one of the features of the ICT grant scheme having been to have a five-year approach, based on €200 million being committed under the NDP over the period of the strategy. This approach was intended to facilitate multi-annual planning by schools. It also stated that the digital learning plan should be reviewed and updated at least annually and used to guide the expenditure of this grant funding to embed digital technologies in a phased and coherent approach to improve learning outcomes.

This issue has been raised by a number of other Deputies, including the Sinn Fein spokesperson on education, Deputy Clarke. In her response to one of those Deputies, the Minister indicated that the provision of digital technologies in schools, including leasing arrangements, was a matter for the boards of management. That was a disingenuous response. The boards of management of schools, and indeed the principals and staff, presumed that the funding promised under this digital strategy would be forthcoming for the next five years and that it would be allocated in each of those years. Will the Minister of State address the issue of funding for the year just completed, 2022-23? Will this money be made available retrospectively to cover the costs that schools have accrued already in the expectation that this grant would be paid?

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