Yesterday, primary school principals were in the House pleading for help. Over the past two years, heating costs have risen by an average of 37%, electricity costs by 35% and insurance costs by 19%. Seven out of ten primary schools ran a deficit in the last 12 months. Almost three quarters do not even have enough money to pay for cleaners and caretakers. More than half have had to fundraise for basic utilities. On top of all of that, 28% of schools have a long-term vacancy rate, with that figure rising to 51% for DEIS band 1 schools and Gaelscoileanna and 48% for special schools.

Is it any wonder that many principals and their schools are at breaking point? They do not have the funding, staff or resources they need to run their schools. Many schools can no longer afford cleaning and caretaking staff, so principals are working after hours to clean toilets and mop floors. They have to leave classrooms to fix broken pipes and clean up leaks from them, and they feel they cannot speak publicly about the issues affecting their schools for fear that their enrolment numbers will go down and the problems will only worsen from there. This is causing burnout and 75% of principals have considered quitting.

This is not just affecting principals. It is affecting teachers who are working in under-resourced and high-pressure environments, it is affecting parents and, crucially, it is affecting students. They are increasingly being taught by unqualified teachers who are filling gaps in the teacher supply crisis and their education is suffering.

Then, there is also the disproportionate impact on children who need special education. According to the National Disability Authority, NDA, the number of children with special education needs at primary level increased by 56% between 2017 and 2021. During that time, allocations of special education teaching hours and special needs assistants were frozen or reduced and additional supports are nearly impossible to get. Incredibly, the Department has no idea of the number of children in mainstream classes with additional needs because it refuses to collect or accept data from schools. How exactly is the Department supposed to address the needs of students if it does not even know what they are? It is farcical. Even when schools are aware of additional needs for incoming students, they cannot apply for the supports in advance so that the child is supported from day one.

Primary schools need action, and they need it fast. They need immediate financial support so that the basics are covered. Special education teaching, SET, and special needs assistant, SNA, allocations need to meet the level of need and we need to address the teacher supply crisis and the pressure on teaching principals. Does the Tánaiste acknowledge the problem that primary schools are facing? Does he agree that all these issues and more need to be addressed? If so, how does he intend to address them?

In any assessment of our education system, particularly our primary school system, it is shown to be one of the best in Europe. This is repeatedly the case with PISA outcomes and results for literacy and numeracy. Our system is very high up there in terms of outcomes. That needs to be said because the Deputy’s narrative was one of unrelenting misery and almost of a system that was not effective at all. The system has grown enormously. The number of teachers has grown enormously. It is up dramatically. This Government has significantly reduced the pupil-teacher ratio. The Deputy did not acknowledge that in her presentation. In the last four years, it has been a singular achievement of this Government and the Minister that we have reduced the pupil-teacher ratio at a primary school level. We have dramatically expanded the hot meals programme. We have significantly expanded the DEIS programme, and with that, the increased financial allocations for primary schools that benefit from being included in the DEIS programme and the various bands in it. We have significantly increased the number of new special schools and classes for pupils with additional needs. The number of special needs assistants has risen dramatically. There are well over 21,000 SNAs in our school education system right now.

I accept there are challenges but it is not good enough to come in and say everything is miserable and a disaster without giving the other side of the coin. The fact is that huge resources, both capital and current, have been put into education over the past three to four years. We have significantly increased the number of teachers in our schools. We have increased the number of special needs assistants. We have increased the number of special classes. We have to do more. We also brought in the free books scheme up to junior certificate level, which is a significant resource to many children and their parents because it removes very severe costs for families and parents. I hope we will be in a position in the next budget to extend that to leaving certificate level. During the Covid pandemic, we substantially increased the capitation grants to primary schools. Also, we improved the situation with school secretaries and caretakers. That also happened under this Government's watch.

We will engage with the Irish Primary Principals Network, IPPN. I do not know if that is the body to which the Deputy was referring and which met yesterday. I helped to establish that body when I was Minister for Education to create a forum for primary school principals, and did likewise for secondary school principals. There are challenges and we will respond to those challenges, as we did last year through the cost-of-living package and other interventions we made for primary schools.

Respectfully, it is not my narrative. It is what the principals are telling us, and it is really important that we listen to it. They spoke about the things the Tánaiste just referenced, for example, the hot school meals programme and how welcome that is. However, one principal gave an example of a contract for the hot school meals programme costing €160,000, which is more than the school received for all the other costs it is covering. While schools welcome the programme, they cannot pay for basic things like cleaning the school so they do not feel the funding has been allocated to the right places. They make a very valid point.

I recognise the increase in the funding for DEIS schools but principals are saying that funding is being swallowed up because they cannot fundraise in the same way that other schools are able to. It is therefore not meeting the extra needs that DEIS schools have. While they really welcome the book scheme, they are telling us loudly and clearly that it is not covering the cost of books. It is great that there has been an increase in special education teaching hours but the crucial point is that people are not getting the special education teaching hours they need. That is the key takeaway and it needs to be addressed.

Primary schools are the epicentre of every single community and therefore every single crisis. The housing crisis means that people cannot afford to live and rent in Dublin. There are these different issues and when they affect other State agencies, they wait-list and backlog, but schools cannot and will not do that. This needs to be addressed urgently.

I call the Tánaiste to respond.

Will the Tánaiste outline what the Government will do to address these issues?

We will focus on capitation and assess the capitation issue, which is the basic income that goes into schools to manage and maintain them on an ongoing basis. We will continue to invest in teachers across the full spectrum of issues that affect teachers. We will invest in training, particularly around additional special needs. On special education more generally, through the National Council for Special Education, there will be an increased number of SENOs, for example.

There is also a change with a more proactive role for SENOs in respect of engaging with parents of children with additional needs to facilitate and help them to secure places for their children, as opposed to the mother and father having to chase down schools to get a place for their children. It has long been a belief of mine that the council, through its SENOs and so on, has to be more facilitative and proactive in helping parents in that regard. The book scheme has been a game-changer for parents. That money is adequate.