Parents help fund 80% of primary schools

Over 80 per cent of primary schools depend on fundraising by parents to meet the shortfall in Government funding, a new survey by school principals indicates.

The survey of 200 primary schools found that they received an average grant of €25,000 even though their running costs average €48,000.

The survey from the Irish Primary Principals Network raises further questions about the level of spending on education in the Republic, which continues to lag behind other OECD states.

Last night, the network's director Seán Cottrell said: "Principals, teachers and parents should not have to fundraise for basic running costs for primary schools.

"Fundraising for survival takes from the core business of school, which is teaching and learning.

"If schools operate strictly on Government funding, many schools would be forced to close between February and Easter."

Mr Cottrell pointed to the billions invested in the National Development Plan at a time when schools depended on cake sales and other fundraising for basics like heating oil.

Almost half of the schools surveyed operate from a bank overdraft for part or all of the school year.

Tomas Ó Slatara, president of the network, said: "If we are serious about education as a driving force for economic competitiveness we must at a minimum double the investment in the basic running costs of schools.

"Schools are depending on the goodwill and financial support of parents to keep the doors open. This is not how it should be in times of prosperity."

Irish National Teachers Organisation general secretary John Carr said a new report showed that 20,000 additional school places were needed in one part of the country. He claimed this showed that decentralisation plans and the National Spatial Strategy were in severe difficulty.

He was commenting on the publication of a draft school development plan for the north Dublin, east Meath and south Louth area.

It shows that one-fifth of the predicted increase of 100,000 in the national school population will be in this area.