Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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692. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if any consideration has been given to increase the funding allocated to primary and secondary schools to allow them to provide adequate heating and hot water to pupils, particularly during the current Arctic weather. [63495/22]

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.

It was a very significant achievement to have secured €9.6 billion for Education in Budget ’23. This will enable many ground-breaking investments in our education system, furthering the work of this Government in recent years in reducing class sizes, reducing costs for families, tackling disadvantage and supporting achievement of all our students.

As part of the Cost of Living measures introduced in the Budget, €90 million is being provided in once-off additional funding to support increased running costs for recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education scheme, in particular in dealing with challenges they face in the light of rising energy costs.

This additional grant, which issued to schools recently, was paid at the rate of €75 per pupil at Primary level and €113 at Post-Primary level. Enhanced rates were also paid in respect of pupils with Special Educational needs. Further details are available in Circular 0077/2022 available on my Department’s website and may be accessed at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/circular/467fa-once-off-cost-of-living-measure-to-support-increased-school-running-costs/

In addition to this 40% increase in grant funding in Budget 2023 to cover increased running costs, my Department has been supporting schools to access lower prices for some time.

Significant work has been carried out at Department level in order to support all schools in their procurement and use of energy supplies.

My Department has ensured in recent years that centrally negotiated rates were made available to schools for electricity and bulk heating fuels through frameworks sourced by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). Central rates are fixed for gas and electricity for those availing of those arrangements at present.

A significant number of schools have engaged with this and are availing of highly competitive energy prices. It is planned to run future competitions to ensure that bulk rates continue to be available from 2024 onwards. Information on how to avail of these arrangements is available via the Schools Procurement Unit website: www.spu.ie

A suite of guidance and advice is currently available to schools about ways to reduce energy consumption during the school day, and my Department will be looking at what additional advice is required to align with the overall approach being adopted by Government in relation to energy savings in public buildings while recognising the unique nature of schools in terms of opening hours.