Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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75. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address concerns raised by a school (details supplied) with respect to caretaker costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34670/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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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 are the capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general up-keep, 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 own priorities, except for the employment of relevant secretaries as per Circular 0036/2022.

The Ancillary Services Grant is payable to recognised primary schools and special schools in the Free Education Scheme. The grant is intended to cater for the cost of employing Secretarial and Caretaking staff. It is up to the BOM to allocate this funding as per their priorities. As per Circular 0040/2009 the capitation grant provided for general running costs and the ancillary services grant provided for Secretarial and Caretaking services may be regarded as a common grant from which the Board of Management can allocate according to its own priorities.

After Fórsa accepted the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) agreement about salaries and leave for grant-funded school secretaries, the secretaries who accepted the agreement were added to the Department of Education’s payroll from September 2023. Because of this, the ancillary-related grant funding has been updated, since schools are no longer paying these salaries directly.

Since the 2023/24 school year, schools have been paid the usual ancillary grant amount, minus the amount that schools previously paid to grant-funded secretaries prior to their acceptance of the new terms and conditions. Schools provided the Department with these details and this information is now being used to reduce the ancillary-related grant funding. Schools should be in no way disadvantaged by this, as the grant is reduced only by the amount they previously paid to their secretaries.

To date we have issued correspondence to schools with details of the arrangements for: September to December 2023, January to August 2024, September to December 2024 and January to August 2025.

In some situations, the salaries of ancillary staff in a particular school may have been higher than the ancillary grant due to the school, and the school may have funded this difference via other revenue streams. In situations where the salary that a school was paying their secretary was higher than the ancillary grant due to the school, prior to them being added to the Department of Education’s payroll, then the ancillary grant is reduced to NIL. This should not impact the school’s financial position.

The rate of ancillary services grant has not decreased and continues to be paid based on the relevant enrolments in the school multiplied by the rates set out in

As part of a package agreed with Fórsa, the trade union representing school secretaries and caretakers, following a series of engagements at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in 2022, the implementation of revised salary and annual leave entitlements for school secretaries, under circular 00396/2022 is now fully operational.

Lessons learned from that process are now playing a key role in the drafting and implementation of a similar deal to be offered to grant funded school caretakers.

The Department is committed to ensuring that school caretakers will be afforded the opportunity to avail of a similar package to that which was accepted by school secretaries in the near future. As the deal to be offered to caretakers, when agreed, will be similar to that implemented for school secretaries, it is not currently anticipated that the granting of public servant status, and the entitlements which arise therefrom, will form part of the proposal.

The Department of Education is not the direct employer of former grant funded school secretaries, but rather has been providing a payroll service for this cohort of secretaries with effect from 1st September 2023.

In the normal course, there are ongoing discussions with the public service unions on any and all matters relating to pay agreements. Any review of changes to the employment of school caretakers or other pay mechanisms, can occur only under those processes and any such proposals would need to be considered in detail by the Department, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and the relevant unions.

The practice of paying for caretaking services under grant schemes continues whilst work is ongoing to agree a similar package to that achieved for school secretaries.

Work is ongoing to identify a method of standardising the reduction to the ancillary-related grants for the longer term where school secretaries are being paid on the Department’s payroll. The current reductions may vary when a permanent model for ancillary-related grant reductions has been finalised.

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 management. Contact details for FSSU can be found on www.fssu.ie.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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76. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will address concerns raised by a school (details supplied) with respect to SET hours; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34671/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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This government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential and the Programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has responsibility for coordinating and advising on the education provision for children with special educational needs.

Schools received notification of their special education teaching (SET) allocation for the 2025/26 school year in February 2025. Schools were informed of the review process with this notification.

The NCSE has advised that the SET allocation for the school referred to by the Deputy remains unchanged for the new school year. In addition, no review has been requested by the school to date.

Any school who has any concerns on their allocation can engage with the NCSE. The NCSE will provide support to schools as required and will examine if the allocation is sufficient to meet the identified needs of all children and young people enrolled.

Where the NCSE identifies the need for additional resources, my department will immediately approve the identified increase so that it is available to the school ahead of the 2025/26 school year.

My department and the NCSE are committed to delivering an education system that is of the highest quality and where every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential.

Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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77. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when SNA allocations for school year 2025-2026 will be announced, given that primary schools still have not been given their allocations.; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34672/25]

Michael Moynihan (Cork North-West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has advised my department that all schools have been informed of their SNA allocations for the 2025/26 school year.

Deputies are also welcome to raise such matters with the NCSE directly through their dedicated Oireachtas query line at oireachtasqueries@ncse.ie.