John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, for taking this topical issue.

I want to raise the issue of the Sacred Heart school in Killinarden in my constituency. It is a DEIS school. I am grateful for the fact that the DEIS programme has been essential in addressing the disadvantage in the school. Sacred Heart and the Killinarden area are ninth out of just over 3,000 disadvantaged areas in the country. Therefore, it is an area considered to have high deprivation, but that is not what I want to focus on. There is a marvellous school and a fantastic school community made up of amazing pupils, parents and grandparents, who have been in touch in the past few days, their teachers, cleaners, caretakers, other staff and everybody else involved in the running of the school. It is a typical 1970s or 1980s school. Pupil numbers may have been dropping off, but not in any kind of dramatic way. There are still at least 300 pupils between both schools, the junior national school and the senior national school. As the Minister of State will appreciate, the running costs of a school do not change regardless of how many pupils are in that school. Unfortunately, capitation grants to the school do drop as numbers drop. That, to some degree, is at the heart of what needs to be addressed here.

The school management and principals furnished me with details approximately a month ago - this problem goes back further than that - with a whole list and string of essential works that have been identified by a contractor as needing to be undertaken in the school, from fire alarm works to heating systems, including boilers, and the insulation of the roof or lack thereof, all of which are related to the running costs of the school, which, when not addressed, lead to increased running costs in the school.

The school ran a deficit of €65,000 in 2022-23. As the management pointed out to me, capitation funding is intended to contribute to day-to-day running costs of schools and consequently should be used to meet the costs of items such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and the general upkeep of the school. At the heart of this is the issue that the school's capitation grant in 2023-24 amounted to €41,705 but the bill for heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general upkeep for the same year was nearly €26,000 more at €66,000. What does a school do when faced with those figures? It has to cut. By God, the school needed to be imaginative and creative in making cuts it did not want to make while still keeping the show on the road. For example, some staff have agreed to clean and hoover their own rooms. These are small gestures. The actions taken by the junior school include tea lady cuts and cuts to cleaning, music classes, dance classes and art therapy. Private assessments are now not available for students because of this funding issue. The staff were issued with a no-spend rule by management, so they cannot spend anything. The school has done its fair share, and I am grateful for some of the measures that were taken instantly today, but faced with existential issues from a financial point of view, the school took dramatic action last week. As one of the TDs for the area, I have been trying to address that, which is why I have brought this to the floor of the Chamber this evening.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lahart for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House on behalf of the Minister for Education the position regarding the financial situation in Sacred Heart Junior National School in Killinarden.

The Department of Education has been made aware of the current situation regarding the financial position of this school. The Department is committed to offering all available and appropriate supports to the school as quickly as necessary to avoid any further uncertainty. In order to support the school, some more information is needed. The Deputy has provided me with some information this evening, and I shall certainly see that it is passed on to the Minister, but the Department requires further information and has asked the school to provide this. The school is currently engaging with the FSSU for this purpose. In order to address the immediate cash flow issues in the school, the capitation grant funding due to be paid to the school in June 2025 will be paid to the school before the end of this week. The Department is keeping in contact with the school and the patron in order that appropriate support can be provided to the school.

The Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants, as the Deputy said, are the capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general upkeep, and the ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. Schools have the flexibility to use capitation funding provided for general running costs and ancillary funding provided for caretaking and secretarial services as a common grant from which the board of management can allocate according to its priorities, except for the employment of relevant secretaries as per Circular 0036/2022. As part of the capitation package in budget 2025, the Department is pleased to have secured more than €30 million as a permanent increase in capitation funding to assist schools now and longer term with increased day-to-day running costs. This represents an increase of approximately 12% on current standard rates and enhanced rates.

This increase is on top of a 9.2% increase from last year's budget. This brings the standard rate of capitation grant to a level of €224 per pupil in primary schools from September 2025. Of course, enhanced rates will be paid in respect of schools with special educational needs and Traveller pupils. Schools should also ensure that they are availing of the available OGP procurement frameworks, and getting best value for money for all school expenditure. In addition to these grants, €45 million of cost-of-living supports issued in November 2024 to support all recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme.

I am running a bit short on time but I can say to the Deputy that the financial support services unit, FSSU, funded by the Department, is an important source of advice and support to schools on financial matters, including budgeting and cashflow, and that the school was referred to the FSSU by the Department. The FSSU is conducting an assessment of the school's financial position while also providing guidance and support to the school.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the response. My understanding from the school is that the FSSU has got involved a second time. Part of its advice to the school was that it reach out to the community. I want to let the FSSU know, as a TD from the area, that it really needs to grasp the breadth and intensity of the challenges that face the school in this area. It is not possible for this school to reach out to the community for assistance. The ancillary grant in 2023 and 2024 amounted to €8,268, but the school's actual spend was €28,000. They have squeezed the pips out of the resources that they have available to them. In an area of deep deprivation, as the Minister of State understands, the school provides the only opportunity many of the pupils in the school have to experience extracurricular activities. It has had to cut a number of those back, whether it be the panto at Christmas or tours, because they cannot afford to pay for buses. They have had to curtail many of these things. The area is ageing and has no new builds. New builds are due on stream, which will bolster the numbers, but in an old building, whether there are 50 or 500 pupils, the costs of running it are actually the same. I will finish on this and look forward to the Minister of State's response.

I welcome the speedy intervention by the Minister and the Department this morning. I welcome their commitment to addressing the immediate needs, in other words, to advance the capitation grant that was due in June this year by the end of this week. That is fantastic news. The school needs a structured approach from the Department and the financial support services unit within the Department. The school needs its hand held and real money in a structured way, not a stop-gap way, to allow it to plan and deliver what all the teachers, special needs assistants, and the entire school community, including parents, grandparents, teachers and management alike, want, which is a top-class education, which is what they get, and to ensure that it is not undermined in any shape or form. Threats about the future of the school because of its financial viability do nobody any justice and do not help anybody trying to provide education for our children.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline the position in relation to the financial situation in Sacred Heart school, Killinarden, and the ongoing support that the Department of Education is providing. I speak on behalf of the Minister for Education. That is what I can do. I hear what the Deputy is saying. I hear that circumstances are such that the advice being given to the school is probably not advice it is in a position to take. Reaching out to the community probably is not possible, as the Deputy said. The school has done everything it can. While my response here tells me that the advance in capitation grant funding is being provided to the school to alleviate current cashflow issues and that the FSSU, on behalf of the Department, will also continue to work with and support the school in the longer term, I still hear what the Deputy is saying, that this in itself, while useful and positive, is not sufficient to manage the crisis that seems to be facing the school. All I can promise is that I have heard what the Deputy said, I have taken some notes, and I will ensure they are brought to the relevant Minister's attention.