Schools 'living on a shoestring' as underfunding now at crisis level

Delegates at the Irish National Teachers' Organisation annual congress in Derry. Picture: Moya Nolan

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) annual congress has called for capitation funding for primary and special schools to be brought in line with that paid to voluntary secondary schools.

Deirdre Mooney, a Longford delegate, told how schools depend on parent kindness and support.

“Irish primary schools are under severe financial pressure and can no longer count on a bail-out from the bank of mum and dad.” 

She said "chronic" underfunding was now at crisis level. 

Schools are living on a shoestring. Investment is now essential so that schools are not dependent on voluntary contributions from hard-pressed parents. 

"The 2023 OECD report on education highlights Ireland’s underfunding of primary education outlines that adequate funding is a precondition for providing high-quality education.” 

Delegates also heard about the disparity between capitation at primary and post-primary level.

From September 2024, primary school children will receive €200 in capitation while their post-primary counterparts will receive €344, the same capitation as 13 years ago. Prices have increased, speakers at the conference said, while capitation grants have not.

Another delegate, Brendan Horan, said schools were starved of basic running costs "while our minister makes grand announcements about free school books".

“Parents run cake sales, cookery demonstration, raffles, bring and buys, just to cover running costs," he said. “Boards, parents and staff all do their best to keep the show on the road.” 

The union welcomed the additional €60m in cost-of-living supports for schools. However, very few of the costs the capitation grant was intended to cover have remained at the level that applied when the grant was last €200 per pupil 13 years ago.

Principal Carmel Dillon said “every pencil is counted in our schools". 

She described her school community as existing in an old building with a lot of heat loss. Her cost-of-living grant was wiped out by her gas bill, she said.

“We had to run a movie night, a raffle and a car wash to keep going. We needed to decide between having a caretaker, a cleaner and a secretary and for two months we cleaned our own school because the money simply wasn’t in the account.”