Minister claims Laois parents grateful on the street for school help

Many Laois parents are grateful for the shift to an automatic payment system for schools supports according to Laois Offaly Minister Sean Fleming.

The Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs made the point in a speech on behalf of the Government in the Dáil on Tuesday, June 20, on educational help for families and younger people.

He spoke of the Government being acutely aware that many Irish families feel additional financial pressure each year when they are preparing to send their members of their family back to school or college. He it is important that the Government continues to support families with the cost of education.

The Fianna Fáil TD said it is crucially important that all children and young people are supported to access education to its fullest forms. The education system must value every child and young person and support and nurture them to reach their full potential.

He highlighted the response he has recieved in Laois for new automatic payments.

"Last week, I was very pleased as a Deputy in Laois to meet many parents throughout Co Laois and in Portlaoise who came up to me on the street and said they were very grateful to have already directly received the funding without even having to  apply for it because the system worked on a renewal basis from last year," he said.  

The TD highlighted a number of benefits in his speech.

He said Government is funding over €52 million to support the implementation of free schoolbooks scheme. He added that all children in our primary and special schools will now arrive into school on 1 September having the required schoolbooks.

He said the Government recently expanded the Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools Programme (DEIS) programme which provided for the inclusion of 322 additional schools in the programme from September 2022.

He added that this means the DEIS programme now supports 240,000 students in over 1,200 schools.

The Government will spend in the region of €180 million in 2023 to provide supports to DEIS schools. These schools receive an additional grant each year to support the implementation of their DEIS action plan for improvements.

The TD said the Government recently approved an additional €14.5 million for all remaining DEIS schools and special schools to be included in the School Meals Programme from September 2023, benefiting an additional 60,000 children to access the programme.

He added that the Government intends to commence the roll-out to all remaining primary schools on a phased basis commencing in 2024.
 

He said capitation payments of approximately €90 million were issued to schools to cover the day-to-day running costs, such as electricity and heat. Further increase the capitation rates paid to schools in future years are also on the cards.

On school transport he said the Government has decided the annual school transport charge for a primary school child will be €50 and for a post-primary student will be €75, with a maximum cap per family of €125.

He said this this is a substantial reduction on the previous annual charges and shows again the Government's commitment to reducing the cost of accessing education for families.
 

Addressing the Back to School Clothing and Footwear payment he said they have increased by €100 per child to €260 for children aged 4 to 11, and €385 for children aged 12 years and over who are in post-primary education.

He added that the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will be paid automatically to more than 120,000 families in respect of approximately 210,000 children during the week beginning on 10 July.
 

At Third Level, he said there will be a reduction of €1,000 in the student contribution for free fees for eligible undergraduate students for the academic year 2023-24.

He said students in receipt of the postgraduate fee contribution received a once-off payment of €1,000, increasing their support from €3,500 to €4,500.

He also higlighted the new student support contribution grant of €500 for incomes of between €62,000 and €100,000 in the SUSI grant scheme will come into place for the new academic year.

He added that the income threshold for the 50% student contribution grant has been increased from €55,240 to €62,000.

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Minister Sean Fleming TD addresses Dáil Éireann on Government  Education Supports 20th June 2023 

On behalf of the Government, I welcome the opportunity to respond to what  has been a very insightful and informative debate on the important issue of the  cost of education. The Government is acutely aware that many Irish families  feel additional financial pressure each year when they are preparing to send  their children back to school or college. It is important that the Government  continues to support families with the cost of education. 

As my Government colleagues said, it is crucially important that all children  and young people are supported to access education to its fullest forms. The  education system must value every child and young person and support and  nurture them to reach their full potential. 

My colleague, the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, highlighted the  importance of the groundbreaking free schoolbooks scheme for primary and  special schools which will be in place from the start of the new school year.  Over €52 million in Government funding to support the implementation of the  scheme has issued to schools already.

All children and young people in our  primary and special schools will now arrive into school on 1 September having  the required schoolbooks, workbooks and copy books. The scheme has  removed the requirement for families to purchase these items or make a  financial contribution to a school towards the book rental scheme. 

The DEIS programme, first introduced in 2005, is the main policy initiative of  the Government to address educational disadvantage at school level. In March  2022, an expansion of the DEIS programme was announced which provided for  the inclusion of 322 additional schools in the programme from September  2022.

This means the DEIS programme now supports 240,000 students in over  1,200 schools, 967 which are primary schools and 235 of which are post  primary. The Department of Education will spend in the region of €180 million 

in 2023 to provide supports to DEIS schools. These schools receive an  additional grant each year to support the implementation of their DEIS action  plan for improvement. 

The school meals programme administered by the Department of Social  Protection is vital, particularly in DEIS schools. The programme currently  provides funding towards the provision of food services for some 1,600 schools  and organisations and benefits 260,000 children. It enables the provision of  regular, nutritious food to children and young people to support them in taking  full advantage of the education provided to them.

It greatly assists many  families by eliminating the financial pressures they may face to provide a  breakfast or a lunch each day and it is very important that when children come  to school, they have a good nutritious meal to help them with their education  during the course of the day. The Government provided €94.4 million for this  programme in budget 2023. In addition, the Government recently approved an  additional €14.5 million to allow access to the hot school meals scheme for all  remaining DEIS schools and special schools from September 2023, benefiting  more than 60,000 children and young people.

As part of the significant plans to  extend the hot school meals scheme to all children in the coming years, the  Minister, Deputy Humphreys, intends commencing the roll-out to all remaining  primary schools on a phased basis commencing in 2024. This has been raised  by a number of Deputies and I am sure they will acknowledge that this is  breaking ground. There is a tremendous plan in place to achieve this. 

The Minister referenced significant additional capitation payments of  approximately €90 million that were issued to schools at the end of 2022.  Capitation payments to schools are important in order that the schools have  the necessary funding in place to cover the day-to-day running costs, such as  electricity and heat. Within the available funding envelope, the Government  will seek to further increase the capitation rates paid to schools in future years. 

Transport costs to and from school are an important issue for many families,  especially those living in rural areas who may have to make travel arrangements and travel significant distances in the course of the school week.  For the coming school year, the Government has decided the annual charge for  a primary school child will be €50 and for a post-primary student will be €75,  with a maximum cap per family of €125. This is a substantial reduction on the 

previous annual charges and shows again the Government's commitment to  reducing the cost of accessing education for families. Eligible children holding  valid medical cards and children with special educational needs remain exempt  from the school transport charges. 

It is also important to mention the back-to-school clothing and footwear  allowance provided by the Government through the Department of Social  Protection. The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance provides a  once-off payment to eligible families towards the cost of school clothing and  footwear. The rates of payment for the academic year 2023-24 have been  increased by €100 per child to €260 for children aged four to 11, and €385 for  children aged 12 years and over who are in post-primary education.

The majority of payments will be made automatically with no application form required. The back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance will be paid automatically to more than 120,000 families in respect of approximately  210,000 children during the week beginning on 10 July.

Last week, I was very pleased as a Deputy in Laois to meet so many parents throughout County Laois and in Portlaoise who came up to me on the street and said they were very grateful to have already directly received the funding without even having to  apply for it because the system worked on a renewal basis from last year.

That funding was received by thousands of families in recent days and I will say to  people who have not yet received it or applied for it, especially for new  students, that the closing date for applications is 30 September 2023 and they  should apply as soon as possible if they have not done so. 

At third level, the Minister, Deputy Harris, has taken a number of steps to  reduce the cost of third level education. Budget 2023 saw a significant  reduction in the cost of college for third level students and their families and  this included supports for the cost of living such as the reduction by €1,000 in  the student contribution for free fees for eligible undergraduate students for  the academic year 2023-24.

In addition, all student maintenance grant recipients received an extra payment in December last year. Moreover,  students in receipt of the postgraduate fee contribution received a once-off  payment of €1,000, increasing their support from €3,500 to €4,500.

In  addition, more than €20 million has been provided to the student assistance  fund for the 2022-23 academic year and a once-off payment of €500 was  provided in 2022 for PhD students who receive Irish Research Council, IRC, or  Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, awards. Moreover, €30 million was provided  in funding to increase capacity for apprenticeships in 2023 and additional  funding for social inclusion measures in apprenticeships such as bursaries for  apprentices from underrepresented groups. In addition, approximately 48,000  students benefited from grant increases of between 10% and 14% effective  from January 2023. 

A further range of improvements to the student grant, as announced in budget  2023, will take effect for the coming academic year 2023-24 and this includes  the creation of a new student support contribution grant of €500 for incomes  of between €62,000 and €100,000 in the SUSI grant scheme. The issue of the  grant scheme was mentioned by a lot of people in the debate and it is good  that families who were finding it difficult to meet those costs will be able to  have some support, especially where more than one member of the family is  at third level.

The income threshold for the 50% student contribution grant has  been increased from €55,240 to €62,000. Again this will facilitate many  families, rather than have their family members being unable to go forward to  third level education. There was a €500 increase in the stipend baseline for  2023 for PhD students who receive an IRC or SFI award and a change in the  eligibility criteria for second-chance mature students, as defined in the student  grant scheme, that reduced the period for a full break in studies from five to  three years, which was a very significant issue as well.

Increasing the deduction  allowable for student earnings outside term time from €4,500 to €6,552 is very  important. Most of us, as Deputies, have run into that issue where students  who were earning money felt they were being penalised for working to get to  college and then their grant was being reduced. That is a significant increase,  allowing them to earn an extra amount of more than €2,000 without their  grant being affected. Exclusion from the rental income of up to €14,000 being  declared to the Revenue Commissioners under the Government's rent-a-room  relief scheme is also important.

There is a greater degree of flexibility for  students who may have long-term social welfare payments but who are falling  outside the special rate. On 25 May, the Minister, Deputy Harris was delighted  to open the first stakeholder event to inform development of the  Department's options paper.

In general, this is the first Government, and I do  not think there is another Government in the world, where out of 14  Government Ministers plus the Taoiseach, that two of the Ministries, which is one in seven of the Government Ministers, are solely and totally dedicated to  education.

To have two Government Ministers solely dedicated to education is  a sign of the commitment the Government has to the education of our young  people for decades to come.