Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Minister of State that the FSSU is an important source of advice. It is the reason two of the schools took part in an analysis of cash flow last summer and again in October. Some recommendations and changes were made. The schools are anxious not to cause concern among parents and the community and wish to engage with the system. The Minister of State will note that I have not named the schools for that reason. There is, however, something else going on. While the capitation grant has increased to €224, if the number of pupils in the school over a short period of time is down 20%, 30% or more, then any sort of cost-of-living or inflationary increase is never going to keep up with that. Equally, if the school is designed for numbers that are four or five times the size of the current school population, the current capitation grant will never deal with that.

I know the FSSU was involved in drafting the reply for today’s Topical Issue. I hope officials will take back the suggestion I have made, namely, that a bespoke solution is needed for these large campuses that have significantly reduced numbers. It is not one school or one location, rather something that is common throughout those housing areas that were built 50, 60 or 70 years ago that have these large campuses. Demographic changes have meant that school numbers have changed. While that is not the responsibility of the schools, they are doing their best to try to live up to the issues. We know that in the programme for Government, the Minister has identified DEIS plus, which is really exciting and would be a real support. While there are all these other supports I have mentioned, such as free school meals, free school books and DEIS plus when it is implemented, when it comes to the day-to-day bread and butter, you cannot butter parsnips if you do not have butter. In this case, we need funding for these schools.

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