Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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381. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to provide the policy rationale for the continued exclusion of minority faith schools from the school improvement service guarantee, the free schoolbooks scheme, and similar supports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56570/25]

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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382. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her Department's long-term strategy for supporting the sustainability and inclusivity of minority faith schools and their pupils; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56571/25]

Noel McCarthy (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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391. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she is considering the inclusion of minority faith schools in initiatives such as the science implementation support grant, the free schoolbooks scheme and the climate action works scheme; if not, the reason such schools continue to be excluded from the schemes; the supports her Department is providing and is considering implementing for the sustainability and inclusivity of minority faith schools going forward; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56777/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 381, 382 and 391 together.

The Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018 (The Act) provides a framework for school enrolment that is designed to ensure that every child is treated fairly and that the way in which schools decide on applications for admission is structured, fair and transparent. The Act provides that in schools, where there are places available, the school must admit each student applying. The Act prohibits the use of religion as a selection criterion in primary school admissions.

The Act provides a protection to ensure that a child of a minority faith, can access a school of their faith. This provision allows schools of a minority faith ethos to admit as a priority a student from a minority religion. The priority can only be applied where a pupil is seeking admission to a school that provides religious instruction or religious education consistent with their minority religious beliefs or a religion similar to their religious beliefs.

The pupil teacher ratio in Ireland is currently 19:1 for schools in the free education system and 23:1 in the fee-charging system.

Capitation Grant

The Government is committed to increasing funding to support schools in the Free Education Scheme, and the Programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools of all types to ensure that schools can meet the elevated day-to-day running costs.

My 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.

The commitment in the Programme for Government builds on the progress which has been made in recent years. As part of the capitation package in Budget 2026, I am pleased that a total of €39m was secured for a permanent increase in mainstream capitation grant funding for schools, increasing the mainstream rate of capitation to €274 per pupil in primary schools and to €406 in post-primary schools for the 2026/2027 school year. Over the last three Budgets this has resulted in an increase in the level of capitation rates of 49.7% (€91) paid to primary schools and 28.5% (€90) paid to post-primary schools. This will also allow for an increase of €20 in capitation rates for Urban Band One DEIS primary schools, increasing the mainstream pupil rate in these schools to €294. The increased capitation rates will also see special schools now receive the same rates of capitation for young people aged 12 and over, as their peers in mainstream post-primary schools.

The current standard rate of capitation grant is €224 per pupil in primary schools and €386 per student in post-primary schools. Primary schools with fewer than 60 pupils are paid the capitation and the ancillary grants on the basis of having 60 pupils. Enhanced rates are also paid in respect of pupils with special educational needs and Traveller pupils.

These supports are made available to all recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme. Fee-charging schools do not receive capitation or ancillary grants from my Department. What differentiates fee-charging schools from all other post-primary schools is the capacity to raise funds through mandatory fees, while in receipt of exchequer funding. The fees charged are mandatory in that initial admission to the fee-charging school or ongoing participation is contingent on the payment of fees.

Schoolbooks Scheme

The funding provided under the schoolbooks schemes is specifically to provide free schoolbooks for some 940,000 children and young people in recognised primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme from the start of the 2025/26 school year.

Private fee-charging schools are not in the Free Education Scheme and are not included in the schoolbooks scheme.

ICT Grant

The Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 was published in 2022 and is underpinned by funding of €200m over the course of the strategy to support its implementation, which was committed to under Ireland’s National Development Plan (NDP). The criteria applying to the ICT Infrastructure Grant will be detailed in the associated circular at the time of issue of the grant. A standard funding formula incorporating both a flat rate lump sum and a per capita amount for each pupil/student enrolled has been used to calculate the grant due to each school. An enhanced per capita rate applies to pupils/students enrolled in DEIS and Special schools and to pupils in mainstream special class primary settings.

All pupils/students following primary and post-primary programmes are included, for per capita purposes, in recognised primary, special and post-primary schools. Fee-charging post-primary schools receive funding at a 50% rate.

Capital funding

Since 2020, my Department has invested over €6 billion in our schools throughout the country under the National Development Plan, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. In July the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55 billion for my Department of Education and Youth for the period 2026-2030 under the National Development Plan. My department is now preparing an NDP implementation plan which is due for publication later in the autumn. As part of this NDP allocation my Department will place a strong emphasis on provision for children with special educational needs, with a particular focus on meeting annual school place needs. My Department’s overall approach in relation to projects funded under the school building programme is to prioritise the needs of primary and post-primary schools in the Free Education Scheme.

The purpose of the Emergency Works Scheme (EWS) is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies, or to provide funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. It does so by ensuring the availability of funding for urgent works to those schools that are in need of resources as a result of an emergency situation.

The purpose of the Summer Works Scheme (SWS) is to enable individual school authorities to undertake small-scale building works on a devolved basis and, ideally, can be carried out during the summer months or at other times that avoid disrupting the operation of the school. The SWS operates on a multi-annual basis for a number of categories which could include the provision or upgrade of science labs, for example.

The Climate Action Summer Works Scheme (CASWS) is open to all recognised schools that are participating in the Free Education Scheme. Earlier this year I announced details in respect of the CASWS 2026 onwards. The Summer Works Scheme was renamed to reflect the strong climate focus and is now called the Climate Action Summer Works Scheme. The CASWS has recently closed for applications and it is envisaged that approvals in any given year will involve a spread of categories rather than the traditional single category at a time.

The CASWS will operate on a multi-annual basis with the first tranche of projects being announced in Q4 2025 for commencement in summer 2026. Under this scheme, approved applications from schools that are not reached for funding or market prioritisation reasons (as above) in 2026 will qualify to be assessed for purposes of the funding available for climate action summer works in subsequent years.

Curriculum

In December 2024 my Department announced €12m in funding for a Science Implementation Support Grant to support schools with the rollout of the revised science subjects in the 2025/2026 school year. The grant was paid to all schools in the Free Education Scheme and this approach was communicated to schools from the outset in the Science Implementation Support Grant Guidelines for post-primary schools published on 3rd December 2024.

Separately, the new subjects of Drama, Film and Theatre Studies and Climate Action and Sustainable Development are now being taught in almost 100 schools. These schools were selected from those who expressed an interest in 2024 in offering the subjects. Whether a school was a fee-charging school or was in the Free Education Scheme was not a relevant criterion in their selection.

All Phase One Climate Action and Sustainable Development schools, not limited to those in the Free Education Scheme, received a once-off funding of €5,000 in September 2025 to establish a Climate Action and Sustainable Development subject department in their school.

All Phase One Drama, Film and Theatre Studies schools, not limited to those in the Free Education Scheme, have been provided with access to new streaming services, allowing registered teachers free access in the classroom to prescribed material and resources to support the new Leaving Certificate Drama, Film and Theatre Studies specification. In addition, all relevant Phase One schools are being provided with film production and audio equipment for the teaching of Leaving Certificate Drama, Film, and Theatre Studies. However, only those Phase One schools for both subjects in the free education scheme will be provided with an annual Implementation Support Grant of €50 per student in line with the general approach taken to per capita grant funding.