Department of Education seeks additional €175m

The Department of Education is seeking to fast-track payment of almost €80 million in student charges this year to ease financial pressure facing third-level colleges.

The student contribution charge was not due to be paid to third-level institutions until January 2016.

However, Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan told an Oireachtas committee on Tuesday that the charge which is paid by the State on behalf of those with grants needed to be brought forward by a month.

She said €17 million of that was required to pay for higher than anticipated student numbers.

Ms O’Sullivan said it was no secret that the higher education sector was experiencing difficulty given increases in the number of students and the need to provide courses to meet the needs of employers.

The funding would assist third-level institutions to meet financial pressures, she said, especially institutes of technology which are not in a position to borrow money.

Extra costs

Overall, the department is seeking some €175 million as part of a supplementary budget to help pay for a series of extra costs.

The retirement of 600 more teachers than was originally projected last year forms a key part of the additional spending.

While at least 1,500 teachers were forecast to retire during 2015, the numbers have reached in excess of 2,150.

On top of the €80 million student charges needed this time next year, an additional €40 million is required to cover lump sum payments and ongoing extra costs for these retirees.

“My department has little control over this component of expenditure,” Ms O’Sullivan said.

“Estimating the number of retirements in recent years has been very difficult, due in part to the extension of grace periods with regard to the calculation of retirements salaries,” she told a select Oireachtas sub-committee on Education and Skills.

A further €50 million is required to progress school improvement projects such as renovations, refurbishments and other upgrades.

Another €6 million is going towards meeting increased demand for access to special needs assistants in schools.

The Government approved an additional 610 special needs assistants in July 2015 of this year in response to rising demand for assistance.

This decision increases the number of special needs assistants to almost 12,000.

Fianna Fáil’s education spokesman Charlie McConalogue said the increase in demand for these supports was “exceptionally high” and required an explanation.

Ms O’Sullivan agreed there was scope to review the reasons behind the rise.

In general, she said, there had been rising demand over recent years for support and it was important to ensure that all children who required the support receive it.