Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On a positive note, this is my first Topical Issue of this Dáil term. In the last term, too many Topical Issues would have been taken by one Minister of State. What we have tonight is a selection of Ministers and Ministers of State who are directly related to the topic. I hope that continues as much as possible through this Dáil term. It is something we brought up at the Dáil reform committee in one of its rare outbreaks of constructive discussion so far.

I would like to raise the matter of the financial constraints impacting many schools, which was also raised on the first Topical Issue matter this evening. I would like to raise it with specific reference to St. Cronan’s Junior National School in Swords. St. Cronan’s Junior National School is an amazing school. I know it is very easy for a TD to say that about any school in a constituency but it is true of St. Cronan’s Junior National School. The work it does specifically in the area of special education would take your breath away. Unfortunately, what has taken away the breath of the school in the last couple of weeks is the latest electricity bill, which came in at nearly €22,000 when split between the junior and senior national schools. This compares with a bill last year of about €8,000, so it has gone up by approximately €14,000.

The school is tied to a rate that is agreed through procurement with the Department. The previous rate per kilowatt was 5 cent and 7 cent and this year it is 14 cent and 15.82 cent. That is actually a competitive rate in the marketplace so the complaint is not about the rate as such, but that the school is tied into it, as are other schools. This highlights the leap in cost to the school due to electricity prices.

It has to pay this out of the capitation grant, for which it gets approximately €100,000 per year. That may sound like a lot of money but when it has 500 students and has to pay insurance, cleaning, heat, light and other expenses, it quickly gets eaten up. Schools are struggling to break even and 70% are running in deficit, as we know. Therefore, the responsibility is then placed on parents through voluntary contributions and school fundraisers, which are becoming increasingly difficult as the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite.

The Minister of State responded earlier that there will be an increase in the capitation grant rate in September 2025. I do not think this will be enough for this or other schools to meet the heating and electricity costs that face them. This needs to be looked at within a budgetary cycle and I ask the Minister of State to take that back to the Department.

What is happening with the likes of St. Cronan's and other schools is unsustainable.

I wish to highlight how creative and forward-thinking schools like St. Cronan's are. It put some solar panels on its roof a couple of years ago. It was done through the emergency works scheme. It got approximately 15 or 16 solar panels, which is equivalent to the average semi-detached home. It is not a lot. It meant the school got about €200 back last July in credits so it is very marginal. When the school applied to get more solar panels through the previous Government's solar panel scheme for schools, it was told it was not allowed because it already received a few solar panels through a different funding stream. Something that could be done very quickly would be to relax the rules to ensure that schools that got solar panels through another scheme can avail of the solar panel scheme to increase their energy efficiency. That could be done instantly. I am interested in hearing the Minister of State's response. Sacred Heart Junior National School in Killinarden and many other schools are not coming forward to state that they are facing the same financial challenges as those faced by St. Cronan's.

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