Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

588. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1022/24]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I can advise the Deputy that the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) grant scheme was an action in the new STEM Education Implementation Plan published in 2023. The grant was to support schools in carrying out projects to stimulate an increased interest in STEM and included an application process as with other STEM initiatives in the past such as the STEM clusters project.

When the grant scheme was announced the Department indicated that it had funding of €1.5m available. There was a phenomenal demand from schools with around 3,000 applications received. Every application received by the deadline of 5pm on the 30th November was read and processed, leaving 2,727 schools with an ask amounting of over €25m.

Given the very high number of valid applications and the budget available for the scheme, a decision was made by the Department to run a lottery, where a random number generator was used to pick out schools based on their line on the spreadsheet. The application for each school was then assessed on a case by case basis with the applications read again by the evaluation team, to ensure they met the requirements as set out in the grant call. Any school deemed not to have met the requirements was removed. The procedure was then repeated until all the budget available was allocated.

As the initial funding available at the time of call for applications was €1.5m, the Department worked to secure as much additional funding as possible, bringing the total available to €4.7m. Unfortunately, on this occasion, this additional funding fell short of the ask of over €25m. The Department is front loading the grant scheme in 2023/2024 school year and it is hoped that a further round of funding can be run this year. This means that eligible schools that were not successful this time may receive funding in the future.

It should be noted that the Department also supports STEM through other areas such as teacher professional development and the development of resources, as well as through supporting initiatives such as SciFest, ESB Science Blast, the Discover programme with Science Foundation Ireland and BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

I am aware of the time and effort that was put in by schools to the application process and the frustration felt by the schools however there was limited money available to my Department. The Department will be in contact with schools In relation to any future funding that becomes available.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I can advise the Deputy that the grant scheme was open to any recognised primary, post-primary or special school within the free education scheme which included DEIS and non-DEIS schools. I can further advise that a total of 530 schools received grants and of those 146 were DEIS schools.

When the grant scheme was announced the Department indicated that it had funding of €1.5m available. There was a phenomenal demand from schools with around 3,000 applications received. Every application received by the deadline of 5pm on the 30th November was read and processed, leaving 2,727 schools with an ask amounting of over €25m.

As the initial funding available at the time of call for applications was €1.5m, the Department worked to secure as much additional funding as possible, bringing the total available to €4.7m. Unfortunately, on this occasion, this additional funding fellshort of the ask of over €25m. The Department is front loading the grant scheme in 2023/2024 school year and it is hoped that a further round of funding can be run this year. This means that eligible schools that were not successful this time may receive funding in the future.

The Department will be in contact with schools in relation to any future funding that becomes available.