The Government and I as Minister for Education are committed to increasing funding to support all schools. This has already seen a €30 million permanent increase in capitation funding to assist schools now and in the longer term with increased day-to-day running costs through budget 2025. This represents an increase of approximately 12% on current standard rates and enhanced rates and is on top of the circa 9.2% increase from last year’s budget. In the past two budgets alone, there has been a 22% increase in the overall funding being provided through capitation for schools. 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, which caters for day-to-day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general upkeep, 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. The current standard rate of capitation grant is €200 per pupil in primary school and €345 per student in post-primary school. Budget 2025 will bring the standard rate of capitation grant to the level of €224 per pupil in primary school and €386 per student in post-primary school from September 2025. Schools will see that benefit and increase at primary and post-primary levels. Enhanced rates will also be paid in respect of pupils with special educational needs and Traveller pupils. Any possible further increases will be part of further budget negotiations but I cannot do that here. I expect, as do all colleagues, to engage with the Minister for public expenditure and reform. There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government to do more, ensure we continue to increase capitation and, above all, support schools as far as we possibly can, not just in providing them funding, but also through the FSSU and ensuring we provide them with advice and support. That is why so many of them come to the unit, as we have seen in the past few years.

Sentiment score: 0.48

I have also spoken to teachers and principals and I fully accept we need to do more. There is a clear commitment in the programme for Government to do more. However, the Deputy has to accept that, in the past two years alone, there has been a 22% increase in capitation across primary and post-primary as well as an enhanced rate for special schools or where support is needed in DEIS schools. I am not saying that is going far enough but I cannot negotiate the budget here on the floor of the Dáil. What I am saying clearly is I am committed to increasing it. The FSSU is the unit that is specifically there in the Department to support schools that are going through a difficult time and say they need financial assistance. Last year alone, two schools got an advanced capitation rate. It is not that the Department is not reaching out or helping or will not provide funding. When schools reach out, it is often about looking to see how they can reduce costs, how can we put in place plans to support them and how can the unit work with them. That is what the Department has been doing. I am not saying we do not do more. I want to see that capitation rate increase. There is, however, something else the Department can do that it is doing and has been doing for some time. It is working with schools, providing plans and budgets and supporting them in that way as well.

Sentiment score: 0.30

With all due respect, the Deputy's party called for multiple different variations of €150 million. We have to work within a budget and we have to make sure we prioritise where the need is most. I fully accept the need is here in education and that we need to provide more, but there is no school that will be let go to the wall because funding is not being provided. I cannot be any clearer than that. I also commend our principals, teachers and all the staff who work so hard day in, day out. I appeal to any school, if it is in financial difficulty, to please reach out, engage at an early stage and make sure it is engaging with the Department. There is not a single school in this country, and there are 3,000 primary schools and 700 post-primary schools, that will not be supported and assisted, be it in providing finance ahead of schedule or providing other types of assistance. That is not to say I do not want to do more-----

Sentiment score: 0.19

If we start allocating budgets outside of the budget every month, then we do not have a budget.

Sentiment score: 0.00

We have to work within the budget that has been provided, and what has been provided is 22% of an increase. I am absolutely committed to providing more. It could not be any clearer in the programme for Government. There is no school that will be let go to the wall because there is no funding being provided. We will always provide funding to schools.

Sentiment score: 0.03

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue and something we all have a responsibility to try to deal with to support our young people, to educate them and to protect them insofar as possible from many of the challenges they face online. In respect of the mobile phones during school time, the pouches were just one of a number of measures that have been recommended and will be rolled out. It is not mandatory for any school but is an option for a school to take up. I have spoken to schools where this has been rolled out and the response from teachers and also from parents is that this is transformative for children in that they are not on their phones, not just during the school period and class times but also at break times, when we want them to be having fun with their friends and enjoying sport, drama, music or whatever else they are involved in. As I said, it is just one of a suite of measures that we all need to be engaged in. In the Department of Education, as part of our digital strategy for schools, the focus is on ensuring that young people are supported so that they can use technology as a key part of their learning, but also that they are safe and well in doing it online. A key component of that is Webwise, the Irish Internet safety awareness centre, which is part of the Irish safer Internet centre. It supports teachers and parents but also supports students directly. It gives a sustained information and awareness strategy targeting school leaders, teachers, parents and children themselves. It develops and disseminates resources that help teachers integrate digital citizenship across their different platforms. For example, there are resources such as Be in Ctrl, a campaign on online exploitation and sexual coercion, and Lockers, a resource for post-primary students dealing again with the sharing of explicit self-generated images of minors. There is engagement around Coco's Law, a law I introduced, which bans the sharing of intimate images, and Up2Us, a campaign focused on creating awareness in the prevention of online bullying. There is a Webwise youth panel of 30 teenagers, who work with Webwise to ensure that what is being rolled out is appropriate. There are also changes to the social, personal and health education, SPHE, and the relationships and sexuality education, RSE, curriculums. It is really important that when they are being rolled out, they are focused on the issues that young people are concerned with and an emphasis on online issues. I will come back in on some of the other work that is being done.

Sentiment score: 0.46

So much work is being done. I mentioned Webwise and the different programmes that are being rolled out. The change in the curriculum has taken a number of years but it is now being rolled out and will be mandatory for leaving cert students. The ban that has initially come into our primary schools is absolutely fantastic but we all have a role here. There is more that schools can do, such as through the ICT grant, which ensures that children are digitally literate. Yesterday, I was at a school in Trim where there is coding and programmes I certainly did not have access to when I was in school. Children are being taught in a way that shows them how they can benefit from technology, but we need to ensure that, embedded in that education, we are wise to the challenges they face. As parents, we also have a role to play. I spoke to a primary school teacher last night whose school has banned mobile phones. It works very well, but he knows there are students in second class and upwards who have access to phones when they go home, be it a parent's phone or a sibling's phone that has been discarded, which they are able to use to access social media sites. We have to ensure that the education does not just stop in the classroom and that any of the programmes we are developing can be accessed not just by the teachers and students but also by the parents. That is so much of what is happening.

Sentiment score: 0.13

To outline the action to date, phones have been banned in schools, and in primary schools in particular, which is only right. Young people are still being educated through the reform of the RSE programme. On post primary, a directive was issued by the Minister for Education urging schools to have restrictive mobile phone use in place, and we can see that being implemented in many of the schools. Most important, the new SPHE curriculum is going to be mandatory. While that focuses on everything from sexual health to other areas relating to bullying and everything else, online will be a key part of that. There is also a programme called-----

Sentiment score: -0.12

The SPHE programme is being updated so everything will be up to date, and young people are being asked what is important to them and what they should be discussing. Only last week, I launched a new programme in arts, which has been taken up by about a third of schools at the post-primary level. This is an overall health and well-being programme that brings everything into one place. It can be accessed by teachers and students and there is peer-to-peer learning. Most important, parents can also access it. We know the impact mobile phones can have on young people's mental health, particularly where they are accessing the material the Deputy mentioned, such as violent pornography, bullying or other elements on social media. These are all the actions that have been taken, but I absolutely agree that we need to do more. We will all work together on that.

Sentiment score: 0.04

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. At the outset, we have to ensure we have the capacity there for any of these types of new application systems to work. My Department has a very significant capital programme, which is providing additional capacity around the country. Since 2020, €5.8 billion has been invested in our schools, involving the completion of over 1,300 school building projects. Additionally, we are working very closely with schools and patrons to ensure that there are sufficient places available each year. What is key to this, the new online system and the new application system is good data-sharing between schools and my Department is working on that as well. On the roll-out of the programme for the senior cycle, a number of pilots are operating. Common application systems are in place in a small number of specific areas, such as at post-primary level in Limerick and Ennis and for primary special classes in Dublin 15. A report is due to come back to me through the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, for the Dublin 15 area, but judging by the work that is being done at secondary level, there are benefits. There are clear challenges where not every school in an area is signed up to a common application system, and that is the point we need to get to. For the Dublin 15 area, I commend Deputy Currie, in particular, and those on the Dublin 15 task force, including parents, teachers, principals, the NCSE and many others, who have been working to develop the common application system. What they need to do now, and they will be supported in this through the Department and the NCSE, is move onto the next stage, having completed the first year of this programme. The feedback so far is positive, but for this to work effectively we need more schools to be part of this overall experience. The Department is taking lessons from the secondary school trial, with a view to developing a new commitment for a national system. A pilot expanding on the ones that are happening in Limerick and Ennis will start in 2026 and 2027. This is about making sure we have the best system possible so that stress is removed from parents, and in particular from those who have children with additional needs.

Sentiment score: 0.38

I assure the Deputy we will be building on the two pilots I have mentioned for secondary schools, taking lessons and experience from them, and starting a pilot for the next school year, 2026-27, with the hope and ambition to roll it out further. We need to make sure we have the ability to share as much data as possible so all of our school systems are updated and all the schools in a particular area are involved and part of the overall pilot. This work is under way. With regard to Danu Community Special School in particular, I assure the Deputy it is a priority for the Department to provide a permanent building. There was a request for the modular accommodation that is needed. The project management team is making arrangements, specifically trying to identify and ascertain the fire certificate and the disability access certificate. The first tranche of funding has been put in place and it is at preconstruction stage, whereby the contractor is modifying the modular accommodation off-site. All of this work is happening and progressing as quickly as possible. It is anticipated that construction on the site will commence during the school term. Progress is being made and we want to see it in place as soon as possible while the new build is being put in place.

Sentiment score: 0.21

I am aware of this issue because it has been raised previously, including by the Deputy. The information we have in the Department very clearly shows approximately 1,000 pupils move outside Dublin 15 on a daily basis to go to schools in the surrounding areas. This is obviously putting pressure on those schools. The view is the development of the new school, which I know is temporarily placed elsewhere, and moving it back into the Mulhuddart and Tyrrelstown area where the problem is most acute will resolve many of the pressures placed on surrounding schools. We have to work with the data we have. We have to work on the basis of where we see movement and where we see enrolment happening. This has to be kept under constant review. If it is the case that demographics change, or the school moves to have the permanent build in the Mulhuddart and Tyrrelstown area, but there still continues to be pressure in other areas, then there needs to be a very rapid response. The information and the data the Department has, which it has to work with, shows this should create a relief, particularly for those schools that are significantly under pressure.

Sentiment score: -0.01