Minister Naughton provides standardised payment period for annual €65m Minor Works and ICT grant funding

• Payment period for these two grants to be set as December/January each year and incorporated into annual grant payments calendar for schools
• €30m Minor Works Grant to be issued to schools in December 2025
• €35m ICT Grant to be issued to schools in January 2026

Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton T.D., today (15 December 2025) announced a standardised payment period for the annual Minor Works and ICT grant funding for schools. This provides clarity and certainty for the school system and will now be incorporated into the annual grant payments calendar for schools. This will assist schools with their budget management.

€30 million in minor works grant funding will be provided to primary and special schools this week to enable them to use on a devolved basis for maintenance and small-scale improvement works.

€35 million in funding for ICT infrastructure will issue in January 2026 to all recognised special, primary and post-primary schools.

Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton said:

This week €30m of Minor works grants funding will issue for all Primary schools and relates to the 2026/2027 school year. Furthermore, €35m ICT grants funding will issue to Primary and Post Primary schools in January 2026 for the 2025/2026 school year.

Providing clarity and certainty around the annual December/January payment of the Minor Works Grant and ICT Grants will support schools in their budgeting and aligns with the substantial increase in capitation funding announced in Budget 2026.

Recognising that each school is different, the payment of the Minor Works Grant allows individual schools who are best placed to decide how best to use this funding, address their own maintenance needs. This lead-in period ahead of the new school year will give schools time to consider their plans and priorities as to how to best use this funding for their own needs.

Maintaining school buildings is vitally important in promoting health and safety, in providing a welcoming learning environment, and in protecting the significant levels of public funding being invested in new and upgraded school infrastructure.

The ICT funding will empower schools to harness the opportunities that technology presents, and to support children and young people to become competent, critically engaged learners.

With the world around us changing rapidly, it is vital that schools can instil students with the skills they need to reach their full potential in our modern society. This ICT funding will empower schools to harness the opportunities that technology presents, and to support children and young people to become competent, critically engaged learners.

Both the Minor Works and ICT funding will support schools both to keep their buildings safe and welcoming places for students, but also in ensuring that students are learning the skills they need in our schools to thrive in today’s world.

NOTES

Minor Works funding

Under the scheme, funding is made available to all primary and special schools on the following basis:

€5,500 basic grant plus €18.50 per mainstream pupil and €74 per student with special educational needs enrolled in the school on 30 September of the year prior to the issue of the grant. The €74 rate applies to a special needs pupil attending a special school or attending a special education class attached to a mainstream school.

Schools have the autonomy to use this funding for maintenance and small-scale improvements to school buildings and grounds. Given that each school setting is different, individual schools are best placed to decide how best to use this funding to address their particular needs.

The works that can be undertaken under the Minor Works Grant Scheme include maintenance and small-scale improvements to school buildings and grounds, improvement or replacement of mechanical and electrical services, the purchase of standard furniture and educational equipment, the purchase of floor coverings and window blinds, the purchase of IT related equipment, ventilation improvements, and enhancements to outdoor learning environments.

Since 2020, €310 million in Minor Works Grants and Enhanced Minor Works Grants has been allocated to schools. This includes the payment of Minor Works Grants totalling almost €30 million paid in June 2025 to primary schools and special schools for the current school year 2025/2026

ICT funding

The €35 million in ICT grant funding represents the fourth tranche of ICT funding under the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 and builds on the €210 million already allocated under the previous Digital Strategy for Schools 2015-2020 Enhancing Teaching Learning and Assessment and the €135 million that has issued to date under the current strategy.

In the case of a primary school the Digital Strategy ICT grant will consist of a €2,000 basic grant plus €25.17 per mainstream pupil, €30.20 per pupil with special educational needs attending a special school or attending a special class attached to a mainstream school, and €27.69 per pupil in DEIS schools.

For example, a 100 pupil-primary school will receive €4,517 and a 500 pupil-school will receive €14,585.

In the case of a post-primary school this will consist of a €2,000 basic grant plus €30.20 per mainstream student and €33.22 per student in DEIS schools.

A 500 student-school would receive €17,110 and a 1,000 student-school would receive €32,220.

Further notes and broad information as to what the ICT grant funding can support:

• Schools to implement the requirement to have a digital learning plan in place, as well as an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), which sets out the rights, privileges, responsibilities, and sanctions associated with the use of internet and digital technologies within the school.
• To provide an additional top-up for DEIS schools to meet additional challenges to support their learners.
• There have been a number of government strategies and initiatives over the last two decades to encourage and promote the effective use of digital technologies in teaching and learning. The Department of Education’s policy in this area is reflected in the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 published in 2022, which builds on progress made under the 2015-2020 Strategy to continue the embedding of digital technologies in all classroom and school activity so that the use of digital technology becomes a seamless part of the whole education experience.
• This strategy builds on previous strategies and incorporates education reform over recent years. Its aim is to help young people become active learners and supports the development of 21st Century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication and digital literacy.
• The Strategy reflects EU priorities also, aligning with the EU Digital Education Plan, and supports key department policies, in particular the published Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy, as well as the STEM Education Policy Statement.
• The provision of this funding can also support curricular change, including to the primary curriculum which envisages child being supported to become digital learners, who are curious, creative, confident and critical users of digital technology.
• Fee charging schools receive funding at a rate of 50 per cent rate. €1,000 lump sum and €15.10 per capita.

Digital Strategy for Schools

The aim of the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 is to build on progress made in embedding digital technologies across teaching, learning, and assessment

It is anticipated that issuing €35 million in January 2026 will enable the balance of funding of €30 million remaining in the National Development Plan commitment to issue over the remaining years of the current strategy.

This funding underpins the ongoing commitment to supporting and enabling schools to ensure the continued embedding of digital technologies in teaching learning and assessment.