Schools are encouraged to open their facilities to the wider community and are assured that income from renting out their facilities will not affect state grants, flat-rate fees or funding from other departments.
Education Minister Norma Foley said there was huge potential for the province’s roughly 4,000 schools to facilitate pilates classes, yoga groups, coding clubs and other activities outside of regular school hours.
She said updated procedures for the use of school buildings and sports facilities outside school hours were aimed at facilitating access to the widest possible community.
“Many schools already open their fantastic facilities outside of school hours for the benefit of their local community and we want to encourage the use of school buildings during the week and throughout the year,” she said.
This procedure clarifies the steps required to establish a childcare centre or kindergarten within an existing building or on the school grounds.
While the primary purpose of schools is to provide primary and post-secondary education, the Ministry of Education supports childcare providers using available school facilities, provided there is space and it does not interfere with the day-to-day running of the school, she said.
The new procedures emphasise certain requirements, such as the need for legal action, insurance and ensuring that proposed after-school activities do not impact on the future development of the school.
Schools have been encouraged to seek patronage permission before opening their premises and the guidelines state that “the first priority should always be the interests of the school, its teachers and students.”
Minister of State for Sport, Thomas Byrne, said he hoped the new guidelines would increase the sporting options available to local communities.
“As a Government we are working to promote lifelong participation in sport and physical activity and maximising the use of school sports facilities outside school hours is one way of achieving this goal,” he said.
“School sports facilities are a vital resource and maximising their use outside of school life makes a major contribution to the sustainability of the local community.”
Meanwhile, teachers’ unions at secondary level criticised Mr Foley and the Department for Education for making “shocking cuts” to per-pupil funding for many schools offering two-week summer programmes for vulnerable pupils, including those with complex special needs.
The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) said mainstream schools would receive a grant of €30 per pupil in the 2024 system, up from €45 in 2023. It said this would mean a 33 per cent cut in funding for schools.
ASTI executive director Kieran Christie said the programme was announced with “considerable fanfare” by ministers earlier this year as a way to support, nurture and encourage vulnerable children to continue to take part in enjoyable and inclusive learning.
“…while the ministry said it aimed to maximise the number of schools and children participating in the programme, grants to schools were being cut,” he said.
But Mr Foley rejected the criticism and said overall funding for the €40 million programme, which will benefit more than 50,000 children, had not been cut.
She said previously a major obstacle for schools to participate in the summer program was staffing, so last year they increased salaries for teachers and special needs assistants, which she said has significantly increased the number of schools participating across all school settings.
In 2023, the grant funding for mainstream primary schools was 45 euros per pupil, but in 2024 the grant funding has been “reverted” to 30 euros per week. The grant funding for special needs schools remains at 60 euros per pupil per week.
“At the end of the day, this is about what’s in the interest of students and making sure we have the right staff at the right time, and to do that we have to pay our staff appropriately… I’m surprised ASTI hasn’t valued that.”
