Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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110. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the views of a person (details supplied) who remarked that, after Budget 2023, schools will still require parental support in 2022 in the form of voluntary contributions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50000/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides funding to all recognised schools in the Free Education Scheme by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs including heating, lighting etc. and the Ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. These grants may be regarded as a common grant from which the Board of Management can allocate according to its own priorities.

There were a number of different funding streams available as part of Budget 2023 and it was a very significant achievement to have secured €9.6 billion for Education for many ground-breaking investments in our education system, furthering the work of recent years in reducing class sizes, reducing costs for families, tackling disadvantage and supporting the achievement of all our students.

A rise in the cost of living should never be a barrier to education. I am very pleased therefore to have the support of my colleagues in Government to ensure this remains the case and as part of the cost of living measures I have secured €90m for additional capitation funding in 2022.

All recognised Primary and Post-Primary schools in the Free Education scheme will benefit from this additional capitation funding in 2022 which represents circa 40% of current standard and enhanced capitation rates.

Voluntary contributions by parents of pupils enrolled in recognised schools are permissible provided it is made absolutely clear to parents that there is no requirement to pay and that, in making a contribution, they are doing so of their own volition. The manner in which such voluntary contributions are sought and collected is a matter for school management, however their collection should be such as not to create a situation where either parents or pupils could reasonably infer that the contributions take on a compulsory character.

Section 64 of the Education (Admissions to schools) Act 2018, which was commenced in 2018 explicitly prohibits the charging of admission and enrolment fees for admission to or for continued enrolment in a school.

In the context of the current cost of living crisis and the additional funding being made available to schools I would expect that schools will not have to seek additional voluntary contributions from parents.