Schools have to send 'begging bowl' to parents due to inadequate funding

BreakingNews.ie

22-06-2025

Three retiring principals say schools are living on 'a wing and a prayer and have to send the 'begging bowl' to parents to help pay for school running costs due to inadequate funding from central government.
The three Co. Louth principals, from rural schools within a 10 kilometre radius of one another, said the cost of school insurance alone takes up almost a third of funding provided by the government to cover running costs.
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Bryan Collins from Scoil Naomh Fechin in Termonfeckin, Edel Victory of Sandpit NS and Ambrose McGinnity of Callystown NS in Clogherhead will retire next week after spending almost forty years each in primary teaching and most of that time as school principals.
"Schools are expected to give more and more but with less and less funding and in a lot of cases, the capitation grant for children is barely covering school insurance, never mind anything else," said Ms. Victory.
"When we had chalk boards, we could afford the chalk," said Mr McGinnity.
"Now we have interactive white boards, chrome books and other electronic devices and we are given money to buy these items but we aren't provided with ongoing financial support so that these essential devices can be maintained, repaired and replaced.'
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"Schools are living on a wing and a prayer. There is a huge gap between the cost of running schools and what we are given and we have been asking parents to fill that gap by organising fundraisers but in reality, we are educators and not fundraisers.
"It is a sad state of affairs."
Mr Collins added: "We have been beating this drum for quite some time. I don't think that the general public realise that schools are getting the same level of capitation as we received 17 years ago and that annual grant is supposed to cover a school's day-to-day running costs, despite a significant increase in the cost of living over this period of time.
"A primary school's Capitation Grant equates to just over €1 a day per child. That's completely inadequate in this day and age. Primary schools have always been very resourceful and we are very good at cutting costs and looking for savings wherever we can find them but if we can't pay for the daily running costs, then we have to go out with the begging bowl to parents and ask for assistance.
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"The government needs to start listening to school leaders and embark on a systematic change in the way schools are funded and resourced. "
Mr Collins also criticised the government for the lack of supports and services in primary schools for children with additional needs.
"The lack of supports for children with additional needs is a different problem but no less important.
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"We (teachers and principals) spend a large proportion of our time fighting for the rights of the most vulnerable young children in our schools.
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"The services and supports that these children deserve and should be entitled to automatically are not available and in a first world country like Ireland it is simply not acceptable to have an inadequate number of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs), support teachers and wrap around services like psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, etc. available to schools.
"It seems to me that once the Department of Education and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) provide a classroom space for children with additional needs, they wash their hands of it and let schools make the best of any resources that they can get hold of.
"It is hugely disappointing that not a great deal has changed over the last decade to cater for the needs of our most vulnerable pupils."