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

Two weeks ago, I raised the crisis facing Sacred Heart Junior National School in Killinarden with the Taoiseach. It was forced to write to the Department of Education saying it would close its doors because it could not pay the bills. It first flagged a shortfall of €26,000 last October. The crisis worsened. The school was in touch with the Department repeatedly but no extra funding was forthcoming. Two weeks ago the Taoiseach said that he believed the issue was resolved. This issue is not resolved. The can has simply been kicked down the road by providing an advance on capitation funding, which means that, yes, the school is open today but the debt will be even worse come September.

Sacred Heart Junior National School is just the canary in the coalmine. The senior school at Sacred Heart faces a funding crisis come September. Last Friday I was contacted by the principal of another school, Holy Spirit Junior Primary School in Greenhills. She said:

The fact of the matter is, we have approx. €8000 in the bank. From this €8000 we are expected to pay €10,000 worth of utility bills, pay a caretaker, a bus escort and cleaner wages, buy resources for students, employ a plumber for a terrible smell on a corridor, not to mention all the other general maintenance costs including in the upkeep of our school building and grounds.

The school states clearly that without adequate financial support from the Department, it is facing "the very real possibility of having to close our doors".

The Taoiseach knows these are not two isolated examples. I know of others in my own constituency. Seven out of ten primary schools nationwide are running deficits. Hundreds are in acute financial distress, and the cause is clear. It was recognised by this Dáil last June, when it passed a motion saying that we have chronic underfunding of our primary schools. These schools have been just about surviving with cost-of-living supports that the Government now appears to be planning to stop. It leaves schools in the situation where they are expected to fundraise for the very basics to keep the schools open. It deepens educational inequality. It puts added stress on school communities. However, the Government is still throwing money at private schools. Last year the Government spent €143 million paying the salaries of teachers in private fee-paying schools and gave them ICT and capital funding grants worth €1.9 million. However, our public primary schools are faced with potential closure because the State refuses to adequately fund them.

Will the Taoiseach and the Government act to enable our primary schools to remain open? Does the Taoiseach accept that advance funding is not a long-term solution to the crisis facing these schools? Will he commit to doubling the capitation grant for primary schools and increasing the minor works grant and ancillary services grant? Finally, will he outline what the new DEIS plus status, which is promised in the programme for Government, will mean? What extra funding will be provided?

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