Gabhaim buíochas le Deputy Ó Snodaigh for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the position in regard to Gaelscoil Lir in Dublin 24. I speak on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth. My Irish is not as good as Deputy Ó Snodaigh's, so while I could understand most of what he said to me, I will not be able to respond to him in the same way, so it will have to in English. First, we will look at the overall position. It is important to say that the Department is committed to offering all available and appropriate supports to schools. In regard to capitation grant funding, the Department is committed to providing funding to recognised primary and post-primary schools in the free education system by way of per capita grants. The two main grants are the capitation grant to cater for day-to-day running costs and the ancillary grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff. The Department has secured €39 million in budget 2026 towards increased capitation funding for primary, post-primary and special schools to provide additional financial support towards their running costs. This will see an increase in the standard capitation rates paid to schools of €50 per pupil for primary schools, from €224 to €274, and of €20 per student for post-primary schools, from €386 to €406. This will also allow for an increase of €20 in capitation rates for urban band 1 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. It is important to say that the increases announced in budget 2026 are in addition to the 12% increases as part of budget 2025. The last three budgets have resulted in an increase in the level of capitation grant rates of 49.7% paid to primary schools and 28.5% paid to post-primary schools. 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 cash flow management. We can send the Deputy the contact details for the FSSU. I will not call them out to him. Furthermore, if the school should require assistance in regard to financial matters, it is advised to contact officials in the Department. Again, I will ask that the details are supplied to the Deputy. The information provided to me tells me that there is no record of contact from this school in relation to capitation or ancillary funding in terms of additional support required, but officials from the Department will make contact with the school in order to get further details.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I hear what the Deputy is saying. There are specific issues in the school. He can correct me if I am wrong, but I understand many students come from a local IPAS centre. It has challenges that perhaps not every school faces, although a lot of schools around the country, including many in my constituency, face similar challenges. That is one of the reasons the capitation grant increased so significantly this year. It needed to increase. Nonetheless, that has happened. There has been an increase of approximately 22% in capitation rates for primary schools in the 2026-27 school year. As I said, there has been an increase of nearly 50% in the level of capitation grants paid to primary schools. Regarding the specific school the Deputy mentioned, as I have said, the Department will make contact with it to seek further details in order to determine what the issues are and what support can be given. There is no record of contact from the school regarding capitation or ancillary funding. The financial services unit, funded by the Department, is an important source of advice and support to schools on financial matters. It routinely provides support and advice to large numbers of schools each year. As I said, I will pass on the contact details. I will not call them out. The Deputy may well be aware of them. It is important that the school knows the Department stands ready to support in whatever way it can.
Sentiment score: 0.21
I thank Deputy Currie for raising this issue. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Dara Calleary. The Deputy mentioned the town centre first policy. As she said, it is a major cross-government policy that aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres and provide an integrated policy approach to the development of Irish towns. The town centre first policy supports the vision outlined in Our Rural Future for a thriving rural Ireland. It does this by providing a policy framework, financial support and access to funded capital schemes to facilitate the regeneration of rural Irish towns. This is to help make our rural towns and villages resilient and vibrant places to live, work, invest in and visit. To this end, the Department’s rural development investment programme operates a range of capital schemes that are targeted at rural areas outside of more urban metropolitan locations. These schemes include, for example, the RRDF and the town and village renewal scheme. The town centre first policy was developed in conjunction with the Minister for housing. As such, the policy can and does have application to communities across larger and more urban towns as well as rural settlements. There are dedicated funding schemes, provided by that Department, available to local authorities to support larger and more urban towns, including the urban regeneration and development fund, the vacant property refurbishment grant under the croí conaithe initiative and the THRIVE scheme which revitalises our heritage buildings. In line with its remit, my Department has supported the development of town centre first plans for Dublin towns like Rush and Lusk, which I note are not on the Deputy's list. A key element of the development of a town plan is the community's own identification of priority projects in that town, something the Deputy mentioned. The capital funding schemes available, such as the town and village renewal scheme, can then assist those communities in delivering on their aspirations, be this through a community centre, public realm works, public park or other community facility. The town and village renewal scheme was introduced in 2016 and is one of a number of measures designed to rejuvenate rural towns and villages throughout lreland. Since the launch of the scheme, almost €184 million has been allocated to over 1,800 projects. The scheme targets funding primarily at towns and villages outside of city metropolitan areas with populations of fewer than 10,000 people. However, towns with a population of up to 15,000 may be eligible if a high-quality application is received. I do not know if that refers to the towns Deputy Currie is speaking about. I heard what she said about the funding gap. I am not fully au fait with all of this, but I can see how some towns could fall through those cracks. While I know the intent of this programme, I still hear what the Deputy is saying. All I can say is that I will certainly bring this to the attention of the Minister. The Deputy is talking about revising these schemes and looking at where the gaps are. I think that is a reasonable and sensible thing to do, and I will make sure that her query and concern are relayed to the Minister.
Sentiment score: 0.16
I will go back for a minute to the town and village renewal scheme. I know Deputy Currie is talking about certain towns or villages being too big and others being too small. I say again that funding has been allocated under the town and village scheme to Fingal County Council to support projects in the county. I mentioned Rush but I can also mention Skerries, St. Margaret's and Donabate. This funding includes funding under the building acquisition measure of 2023 for the purchase of a former parochial house and coach house in St. Margaret's to develop a multipurpose community space. Funding was approved to support the development of the Floraville park in the centre of the town of Skerries. As I said, public realm improvements were funded in Donabate and Rush. I am not sure this is exactly what the Deputy wants to hear, and she will forgive me if I am not-----
Sentiment score: 0.21
Yes, I know, but I can only quote what is in front of me and what is possible. It may not be her area but the idea here, and she is the best judge of this, is that this is possible in similar areas, and it is what might be done. I heard what she has said and I fully understand her frustration. While there is really good intent in all of these projects, a really good push behind them and successes, perhaps in some instances it does not fit the place the Deputy is speaking about. It is too big for some areas and too small for others. All I can promise is that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, will hear clearly what the Deputy has had to say on this issue and her concern about the need to perhaps refocus slightly.
Sentiment score: 0.32