Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to stress that the Department is there and available to engage with schools. While we have seen an increase in the number of people coming to the FFSU it is not to the level that we are hearing more broadly. I encourage schools which may be in difficulty and having a challenging time ahead with their finances to engage with the Department.

The DEIS grants and status mean that students and schools get an increased rate for various things and increased supports but I appreciate that is often not enough. The commitment in the programme for Government is very clear. We will continue to increase capitation. In this month alone, the level for primary school will increase to €224 and will also increase for post-primary students to €386. That is an increase in primary alone of €30 million in the last year. My intention is to make sure in the years ahead we continue to increase that capitation. We also need to find ways in which we can save money for schools. For the 28 schools announced this week where over €80 million will be spent on retrofitting, that will help reduce their overall energy costs. That is why it is really important. The summer works scheme is focussing solely on environment and climate because that helps bring down the bills. We need to support schools in looking at insurance and other costs. That is something I am looking at currently.

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