FORMER UN SECRETARY General Kofi Annan once said: “Education is the premise of progress in every society, in every family.”

Yet as another school year begins, Ireland’s primary education system finds itself at a critical juncture. Long-standing underinvestment is impossible to ignore. It is jeopardising the future of the next generation.

In Ireland, only 11% of overall government expenditure goes to education. Thirty years ago, it was 14.5%. Successive governments should have raised it to at least 16% by now to show that we are serious about having the best education system in the world. 

Sectoral expenditure 2025 https: / /www.whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie/en/2025/ https: / /www.whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie/en/2025/ / /www.whereyourmoneygoes.gov.ie/en/2025/

Our government’s spending decisions do not reflect the needs of primary and special schools. The main reason the DEY needed a supplementary budget earlier this year is because the Department of Public Expenditure left 4,000 schools well short of the funding they needed to thrive in 2026. This shortsightedness is guaranteed to cause problems.

The penny pinchers should heed the challenge issued by celebrated academic Howard Gardner: “If you think education is expensive, try estimating the cost of ignorance!”

Despite growing........

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