Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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399. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the mainstream class teacher grant, which encompasses a furniture and ICT grant, has not been paid to schools yet, despite commitments that this would be paid on 8 September 2025; and the measures being taken to ensure schools are paid this grant as quickly as possible. [56969/25]

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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400. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason her Department has not contacted schools regarding the mainstream class teacher grant since 2 September 2025; if she will make contact to eligible schools informing them of any delays in payment; and measures being taken to ensure payment is made as quickly as possible. [56970/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 399 and 400 together.

As the Deputy may be aware, my Department recently engaged with schools that have received additional mainstream teaching allocation posts informing them of a new pilot initiative which sought to automate the process for issuing the relevant Furniture and Equipment and ICT grant funding to qualifying schools. Whilst it was initially envisaged that these payments could be facilitated over the September-October period some additional measures have been identified for inclusion in this pilot process and these are in the process of being implemented. My Department will engage further with the affected schools in due course to advise on next steps.