Schools kept in the dark over essential repair funds

Schools are still waiting to find out if they will get Department of Education funding for repairs this year or if they will have to ask hard-pressed parents to pay the maintenance bills instead.

A year ago last week, former education minister Ruairi Quinn announced a one-off reinstatement of the minor works grant, paying €28m to the country’s 3,300 primary schools weeks before Christmas. The payment was described by Fianna Fáil as an election gimmick, as the once-annual grant was not paid in 2012 and was only announced last year soon before the local and European elections — giving an average-sized school of 120 pupils around €7,700.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation says repairs which cannot be done would have to be left on the long-finger so postponing grants would prove more costly in the long run.