347. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Education and Youth the average cost for water on a per pupil basis being paid by public schools. [54643/26]

My Department collates available data from school authorities as part of broader efforts to provide for an efficient and effective education system.

The Financial Support Services Unit (FSSU) collates schools’ financial data in accordance with Department of Education and Youth Circular 0060/2017 (primary schools), and Circular 0002/2018 (voluntary and community & comprehensive schools).

The Department currently analyses financial data relating to primary, voluntary secondary, and community and comprehensive schools. This information is derived from the annual financial returns submitted by schools to the FSSU, a subset of which is subsequently provided to inform financial analysis and strategic decision-making.

The data collated by FSSU is provided by individual schools and as such is subject to certain data quality limitations. Furthermore, the data provided to my Department does not include fee-charging or Education and Training Board schools.

While data limitations currently prevent an analysis of the cost of water for each student, I can confirm that 2,434 schools reported paying ‘water related expenses’ in the 2024/2025 school year.

I am committed to improving the quality of these data; officials of the Department are working with school authorities to increase the accuracy of these data.