Howlin says he would like to see schools receive block grants

Minster for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has said he would like to see schools receive block grants and determine for themselves the priority areas on which it should be spent.

He told the Government’s national economic forum at Dublin Castle yesterday that rather than seeing schools bidding for a specific number of special-needs assistants or resource teachers, he would prefer if they received a block of funding and decided for themselves “within the unique needs of their school how that money should be distributed to educational advantage”.

“That is the sort of model I would like to see at least piloted,” he added.

Mr Howlin also said that the Minister of State in the Department of Health, Kathleen Lynch, was carrying out a review of spending in the disability sector to see if it was providing value for money for people with disabilities who had a list of unique requirements.

“Are we getting value for money for that? Is the model right? Is it too dispersed? Are the delivery systems appropriate? That is the sort of questioning that is going on now in that area,” said Mr Howlin.

“However, through the comprehensive review of expenditure, in every area of spending now, it is not good enough to say simply we are spending money. We have to also measure the outcomes for that money.”

The Minster said the Government was spending about €6.3 billion annually on disability services across a range of departments including health, education, transport and sport.