Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to address this with the Minister because I have been contacted by a number of schools across Laois-Offaly in recent weeks regarding the funding crisis and they have outlined to me the dire financial situation they are in. I have also met the Irish National Teachers Organisation and the Irish Primary Principals Network to listen to them and their concerns about the funding crisis. I have listened to them and the Government needs to listen to them.

While costs continuously go up, supports in real terms from the State go down. Seven out of ten primary schools have run a deficit at some stage in the past 12 months. Schools have reported that their heating costs have risen by an average of 37% over the past two years. Electricity costs have increased by 35% plus and insurance costs by nearly 20% during the same period. One-off cost-of-living grants to keep in line with the costs of electricity, etc., do not cut the mustard. I heard the Minister trotting out figures, but the one-offs do not address the funding crisis. They may get the Government a headline or a photo opportunity, but then the Government neglects to address the core problems and solutions in real terms. If schools are lucky, the capitation grant will cover electricity, heating and school insurance, all of which, as I said, are increasing. Local primary schools are very careful with money, very prudent, and the Minister, as a former teacher, knows that as well as I do. In many cases they do not have the money to cover such things as bins and sanitary disposal, office software, water charges, which were landed on them about 13 years ago, and a whole range of other costs.

The Government may brag about budget surpluses, but the OECD figures show that Ireland spends less on primary level than other developed countries. Schools are voluntarily fundraising. They ask for so-called voluntary contributions from parents, and the Minister knows what the voluntary contributions are. They are essential in a lot of cases to keep the school going. Golf classics, bring-and-buy sales and raffles are held to pay for basics. That is not acceptable to fund the basics of education in the primary sector. We could fund our education sector adequately if the Government were to choose to do so but it chooses not to fund it at primary level to the extent required. Funding for education needs serious, immediate and huge investment. The capitation grants need to be aligned with the current cost of living and costs across utilities. We in Sinn Féin have proposed that in our budgets over the past three or four years. The grant schedule needs to be published at the start of the year to give certainty throughout the year. The teacher supply crisis needs to be addressed meaningfully.

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