1170. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Education and Youth the efficiency and reform proposals that her Department has submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation in response to their request for such proposals with a deadline of the 17 July 2026; the impact that these spending cuts will have on public services within her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55533/26]

My Department works closely with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation on expenditure matters. In recent years, the Government has provided significant additional investment in education, including funding for pay, capital projects, capitation funding for schools, the allocation of thousands of additional teaching and Special Needs Assistant posts, enhanced supports for school leadership, smaller class sizes, targeted measures to address teacher supply, increased funding for youth services, the introduction of an Education Therapy Service, new Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools (DEIS) supports and free schoolbooks. This was in additional to other funding provided for targeted measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the arrival of people displaced by the war in Ukraine and cost-of-living pressures.

There has been a range of internal and external financial reviews carried out my Department. There is no evidence arising from these reviews of financial mismanagement in the Education and Youth Vote that has a proven track record of accurately forecasting the costs required to appropriately fund the education sector. Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conducted an assessment in 2025 and found that education in Ireland to be “at or close to the frontier” when it came to public spending efficiency when compared across other OECD, EU and peer countries.

As my Department was not subject to the expenditure levy imposed by the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, it was never requested to provide any efficiency and reform proposals by the 17 July 2026.