Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
589. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Education if there will be a further round of funding allocations for the unsuccessful STEM learning grant applicants, particularly for DEIS schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1025/24]
View answerI can advise the Deputy that the grant scheme was open to any recognised primary, post-primary or special school within the free education scheme which included DEIS and non-DEIS schools. I can further advise that a total of 530 schools received grants and of those 146 were DEIS schools.
When the grant scheme was announced the Department indicated that it had funding of €1.5m available. There was a phenomenal demand from schools with around 3,000 applications received. Every application received by the deadline of 5pm on the 30th November was read and processed, leaving 2,727 schools with an ask amounting of over €25m.
As the initial funding available at the time of call for applications was €1.5m, the Department worked to secure as much additional funding as possible, bringing the total available to €4.7m. Unfortunately, on this occasion, this additional funding fell short of the ask of over €25m. The Department is front loading the grant scheme in 2023/2024 school year and it is hoped that a further round of funding can be run this year. This means that eligible schools that were not successful this time may receive funding in the future.
The Department will be in contact with schools in relation to any future funding that becomes available.
