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

It is quite incredible that the Taoiseach is blaming a school, which was put in a position by his Government and by the Department of Education, for being in a situation such that the management felt there was no alternative but to say the school will close its doors. It is incredible. The Taoiseach is victim-blaming and gaslighting these principals across the country who likely do not want to be in this position. The Taoiseach says the Department was in touch with the school I mentioned in December and there was no response. What did the Department say? Its financial unit, the FSSU, contacted the principal in December and told her to reach out to her community to help fund the school. That is shameful.

These schools are not charities. Their principals should not be running around having to fundraise based on how much money is in their areas and how large a population is served by their schools. This is a basic public service that the State needs to provide. I have given two examples of schools in just one constituency where the principals are saying they will have no choice, if they do not get more money, but to close. A motion proposed in the Dáil by the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, recognised that there was chronic underfunding of our primary schools. The Taoiseach now seems to be stepping back from that acknowledgement. The answer is not to victim-blame the principals and schools but to provide proper funding for our primary schools so that they are not placed in this situation.

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