Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I agree with that but I stress that the Minister, Deputy Naughton, is certainly not waiting for any further piece of work to be done. Of course, there are lots of further pieces of work under way but in the here and now, the Minister is working to make sure more classes are put in place and opened, with a particular focus on schools where they have a physical ability to open another class and where there are not longer lead-in times. I thank schools right across the country which are stepping up and showing real flexibility and leadership on this. The Minister does too.
I am pleased the Deputy raised the issue of the €19 million because I want to say two things in relation to that. First, where it will come from is total voted expenditure of €118 billion. Some €19 million was a lot in the context of the SNA situation; it is very manageable in the context of total voted expenditure. Second, we have contingency funds and the likes built into our overall €118 billion. I said two points but I have three points. Third, it will be additional funding to the Department of education. It will not be a question of robbing Peter to pay Paul within the Department of education.
Our absolute commitment is to work to make sure every child due to start school in September can start school then with the maximum levels of support possible. I am conscious when it comes to "appropriate", that is often, I suppose, not subjective but based on the best information available at the time to a family and a school. We will certainly be working to open more classes and with schools and parents through the NCSE. We will have further engagement in government on this on Monday evening.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19