Hanafin rules out rise in school funding

Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has said there will be no increase in funding for the State’s schools and urged local communities to “rally around” to support them financially.

An Oireachtas Committee heard yesterday that many of Ireland's 3,000 primary schools were struggling to cope financially. It was told the schools were on average €23,000 in debt.

Separately, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin attacked the Government for what he said was its failure to recognise the contribution of education to the success of Ireland’s economy.

Minister for Education Mary Hanafin

Speaking to The Irish Timestoday, Ms Hanafin accepted that some primary schools were experiencing financial difficulties and needed increased funding.

“We have recognised in the Programme for Government that the capitation rates for primary schools should be doubled because, over the years, greater pressures have come on them, and more particularly communities haven’t been able to support their schools in the same way that they have in the past,” she said.

“But we also have to accept that there is a tightening economic situation and that there just isn’t the same amount of money available this year as there was last year.” Ms Hanafin was speaking before addressing a Catholic Primary School Managers' Association (CPSMA) conference in Dublin this afternoon.

Primary school managers have estimated they need an additional €82 million in State funding to clear the school debts.

“Another €80 million is another 1 per cent on top of the existing budget and at this time, we’re just not able to do it,” the Minister said.

Ms Hanafin agreed that education played a major part in Ireland’s prosperity, but rejected Dr Martin’s claim that the Government had failed to recognise this by adequately resourcing schools and colleges, insisting that education was Government’s “number one priority”.

She said the education budget went up by eight per cent this year, compared to an increase of only three per cent in some other Government departments. “I think that shows that the Government will remain to be committed to education. But again, everything is predicated on the economic situation.”

Local communities should "continue, as they always did in the past, to rally around and support their local schools”, she said.

Ms Hanafin also said she was “concerned” at claims by Dr Martin that some parents send their children to Catholic schools because “there is less diversity in them” or that certain schools are being elitist in their enrolment policies.

She said schools, while they were permitted to uphold their particular ethos, were obliged by law to be inclusive of all children of all backgrounds, nationalities and religions.

“But upholding your ethos does not mean you can exclude children, whether it be newcomers or children with special needs,” she said.

Ms Hanafin said the Department of Education did an audit of schools which found that primary schools were generally very accepting of all children.

However, it uncovered some evidence that certain secondary schools were being “dumped upon” by others in their areas.

“We have evidence in some areas, some towns, where schools would recommend to parents that ‘the other school would be more appropriate for your child’, whether this child had special needs, was from a disadvantaged background or had language difficulties, being a newcomer.”