Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I met representatives of the INTO this morning in Buswells Hotel where they were doing a presentation. I have also had calls from many school principals about the capitation grant they are getting. It is €200 per child, and it has been at this level for 13 years. The ancillary services grant is also dated. It is true to say the Government has provided once-off funding post Covid to help these schools but they are now at a stage where they need the capitation and ancillary grants to be increased. This is because they cannot afford to employ their caretakers or to do anything outside of normal spending. They are actually using the reserves they have to try to pay for running costs in schools. This is something that needs to be looked at in the long term in the budget. The capitation and ancillary grants need to be updated by an amount that will make the difference between survival and not.

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