Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I am going to share time. I welcome the motion and note that the Government has not tabled an amendment to it, which means it is going to allow the motion to pass with no intention of implementing its demands for dramatic reductions in pupil-teacher ratios, investment according to OECD averages and so on. It makes something of a farce of this place, to be honest. Our primary schools have been run on a shoestring for decades. It is simply not possible to run a school on the stingy capitation and ancillary grants that are doled out by the Department of Education, and the Government knows this but it intends to continue along those lines. The Government knows that school principals are having to endlessly badger parents to fundraise to keep schools running. It knows underfunding schools forces them to operate as mini-NGOs, dependent on charity. It knows this places schools in working-class areas and children with additional needs at particular disadvantage but it does not seem to care.

I was in touch with several principals in my area to ask what this looks like on the ground and I got a series of horror stories back from people. One principal, of Rathcoole Educate Together National School, said the school has to ask parents every year for voluntary contributions just to stay open. They said electricity and heating costs are skyrocketing, with no additional funds to help. They said that those in the school’s parents' group are killing themselves fundraising in order that they can buy sensory toys and yard equipment, and that while a sensory room is needed in the mainstream school, these are not standard, so the school has to fundraise for it, at more than €10,000. The principal went on to say that because the school has been in temporary accommodation, with no hall, for four years, it looked at renting a hall for PE, especially in winter, but there are no funds to cover it. They said a full SET position in the school has been empty for most of the year due to the teacher crisis and insisted the Department is doing absolutely nothing about. They said the school needs to find staff and additional assistant principal posts and pay them properly, given no one wants an "assistant principal 2" role because the pay is ridiculously low. They said the school is being paid for eight teachers but not for the 11 SNAs, the cleaner or the secretary. They said they have a team of 21, not eight, and that this does not even include the bus escorts. I could go on with what that principal said.

Another principal said that this year, the school had only a part-time SET teacher, when it was entitled to a full position, because it could not find someone for the position. They said they had often been left without substitute cover either, due to a shortage of substitutes. They said the school's secretary had recently switched to being paid by the Department and that the remaining money it had sent in the school's ancillary grant was €400, which was to cover maintenance costs for two thirds of the school year. That is not enough to pay a caretaker for one month, never mind two thirds of the year. The principal said the school has to rely on the goodwill of staff and parents for basic needs such as cutting the grass and maintaining the school property. It is extremely stressful on the principal and is an unfair ask of staff and students, forced to go above and beyond.

Elsewhere in my constituency, Riverview Educate Together National School and Setanta Special School have been forced to share space since 2020 because the Department has failed to provide the new school buildings that were promised. Parents in Riverview tell me that children are being taught and cared for in toilets, offices and corridors. This is particularly impacting children requiring movement and sensory breaks who are relegated to hallways and toilets. Incredibly, one child sees an art therapist weekly in a cupboard. This is happening in 2024. For many years, students have had no access to a school hall for indoor PE because the hall is being used as a classroom.

The frustrating thing about all of these horrific stories is that they are unnecessary. The Government has a €65 billion surplus. It could fund everything that schools needed tomorrow and resolve the housing crisis, which is a major driver of teacher shortages.

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