Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Independent Group for this timely motion. It is an important motion for discussion as schools start to wind down at the end of the year and have an opportunity to rest and to start looking at what they had to do just to keep the lights on during the past year.

Primary schools nationwide face a funding crisis. They face crises on multiple fronts but funding is to the fore. This has been the case for some time. Those most vulnerable in our education system, those who have special educational needs, are suffering most as a result. Every child is suffering, however. Primary school principals are operating on the edge of breaking point but they hesitate to speak out on chronic underfunding and its results due to a fear that enrolment numbers might fall, which would perpetuate the problems these schools face.

The Minister will know that seven out of ten primary schools have run a deficit in the past 12 months. This indicates a systemic malaise affecting the sector. Many of those schools' energy costs have risen by an average of 37% for heat and 35% for electricity over just two years. They have been further hamstrung by insurance costs, which rose by close to one fifth in the same period. This has led to more than half of primary schools being forced to fundraise just to heat their classrooms, turn their lights on and insure their hallways. This state of affairs is beyond unacceptable and is something that has repeatedly been made apparent to the Minister. We would deem it a crisis if these were the only issues facing by primary schools but the reality is that there are far more.

For example, almost 75% of schools cannot pay for ancillary staff this year, with an average gap between grants paid and costs of more than €7,000.

How can schools that are already understaffed and underfunded come up with these sums, which are required to just about steady the ship? Schools are not even able to budget or plan due to a lack of clarity as to whether or when some grants will be paid, which one organisation, the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association, has shown with its latest survey is causing school principals to leave their posts because they are overworked, burned out and seemingly abandoned by the State. Despite the Department's claim the additional funding provided by the Government's budget has helped cover running costs, this is little more than a yarn spun to obscure the dire reality primary schools are facing. It is an awful accusation to say that the Department's claim is a yarn and I do not make it lightly, but when we talk to school leaders, principals and teachers, they tell us the money coming in simply does not cover the costs, so it is clearly the reality in our schools throughout the country.

If a school is one of the lucky ones, capitation grants will cover their heating, electricity and insurance costs, but even they will fall short of covering other day-to-day expenses as a result of Ireland spending, on average, 12.5% less per student at primary school level than do other developed countries, according to OECD figures. Those day-to-day expenses that are not provided for include office software, waste disposal, water charges, bank charges, photocopying, plumbing and boiler servicing, security, lifts and disability infrastructure, payroll and administration, accountancy, fire regulation, stationery and teachers' resources.

I spoke to one principal in my constituency last week. He said that at the start of the new school term, he would usually bring in a cleaning company to undertake a deep clean of the school, including the carpets, in order that when the students and their parents came in on their first day, they would get that nice fresh smell, but he said the possibility of that is simply gone. It seems like a bygone era when a school would have been able to have that luxury. Imagine being a principal who, if lucky, has only to think about finding the funds for everything I mentioned, with many unable to even consider these necessities because they face the possibility of their classrooms going without heating or lighting or of their schools going uninsured.

I want to talk about the idea of a school going without heating. Each year, and recently in particular, we hear about the extent of child poverty in this State. Child poverty is measured by a number of factors, one of which is a child's inability to access a warm coat or a second pair of shoes. If there is a combination of a child being unable to afford a warm coat and a school unable to afford to heat its rooms, that is a dystopian, borderline Dickensian reality happening our schools and we should be ashamed of ourselves because of it.

How did we get to this point? It is no wonder teachers leave our shores in droves, unwilling to work in such dire conditions. The ancillary service grant, sadly, falls at the same hurdle. The grant used to cover secretaries, cleaners and caretakers but the Department has watered down its effectiveness to provide for their costs, with secretaries' salaries and employers' PRSI deducted from the ancillary grant, completing defeating the grant's purpose, which was to cover the cost of these roles. It is awful to hear that some schools have found themselves unable to pay caretakers and cleaners for an academic year, leading to job losses never before anticipated, in jobs that are still direly needed. This causes countless health and safety issues for students and staff. Many principals have ended up working long, back-breaking hours to fulfil these roles because the Department is not willing to provide for them. This is not sustainable. Primary school principals cannot be expected to fix plumbing at 8 p.m.

Schools are not known to run surpluses, yet when progressive grants were provided by the Department in the past, such as the cost-of-living grant in budget 2024 and Covid supports, they were discontinued, plunging schools back into a deficit. The ICT grant has been horrifically managed, with many schools left without their grants to pay for an order put in before the announcement of its discontinuation. The primary school free books scheme, which was introduced to much fanfare, was reduced from €96 per pupil to €80 for the coming academic year, yet schools had to absorb the shortfall last year, which will be worse again in September. This is not sustainable. School books cost up to €27 per book, plus workbooks, so schools are forced to ask parents for contributions, despite the Department having told them not to. It is a comedy of errors and a failure in duty of care.

It does not stop there, however. Summer programme grants have been cut, rendering many programmes unfeasible, and the DEIS grant ends up providing for the day-to-day expenses the capitation grant should cover, instead of providing for the additional resources it is intended to cover. The school meals programme represents another failure of provision by the Department and in many schools, it is teachers and principals who heat the food, hand it out and clean up. Hot school meals are welcome, but the fact another task is being imposed on principals, who were overburdened before this, makes a mockery of the scheme.

The financial support services unit has advised schools not to ask parents for more money but they are allowed to ask parents for voluntary contributions, which they should not be asked for. Voluntary contributions are one of the horrors of the English language. There is absolutely nothing voluntary about a child going home with a note in their backpack to give to their parents to ask for money to cover what should be a basic provision of the State.

Primary school communities deserve to know now whether they will be adequately provided for in the next budget to keep on the heating and lighting, cover their basic running costs and allow their principals, teachers and other staff to do their jobs and not somebody else's. It is no wonder we are facing a staffing crisis when the Department has repeatedly shown such disregard to our school leaders.

Our schools are in dire straits, and I do not mean that in any way as an affront to our school leaders, teachers, SNAs or anybody else. Our schools are in an horrendous, dystopian state because they ae underfunded and antiquated and because we very clearly have no ambition for schools in this country. Otherwise, they would not be rendered in the state in which they are. We really need to do better.

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