'Blame game' erupts on €100m crisis in education
A ‘blame game’ has erupted in Government over Department of Education overruns, with Jack Chambers launching a ‘scathing’ attack on Helen McEntee and Norma Foley, former holders of the portfolio.
But frustrated Cabinet ministers, who will see their own budgets scaled back as a result of the multi-million-euro hole in the finances, have questioned why, as Public Expenditure Minister, Mr Chambers was not more on top of the situation.
Extra.ie reported yesterday that the Department of Education is set for a large bailout, its fourth in as many years.Education Minister Hildegarde Naughton said yesterday she made ‘absolutely no apologies’ about the need to ‘make sure we are adequately funded, to make sure we are meeting the needs of everyone’.
Pic: Getty Images
Cabinet sources have warned that part of the bailout, which is understood to stand at more than €500million, will at least in part be paid for by other departments.
Government figures have told Extra.ie that, at a Cabinet meeting this week, Mr Chambers was ‘scathing’ of the tenure of both his Fianna Fáil colleague Ms Foley and Fine Gael’s Ms McEntee for how they allowed budgets to overrun while they were in charge.
Sources close to Ms McEntee pointed out that she was only a year in the role before moving to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Jack Chambers. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
Another source defended Ms McEntee’s record, stating: ‘The minister was ten months in the department and reduced the deficit in that time.’
People familiar with Ms Foley’s thinking have accused Fine Gael of trying to wash its hands of the issue, despite currently holding the ministry. ‘It might be in the interest of people who are trying to defend their current predicament, to put the blame on others and suggest “it was all fine till I got here”,’ they said.
They also said she had an excellent working relationship with Mr Chambers. ‘Spare me the Jack and Norma row stuff,’ they added.
Pic: Stephen Collins /Collins Photos
They also said: ‘Education are in a tough space, you know, where the demand for special classes is huge and growing all the time. What are they to do? Can you imagine the Mail headlines where you just say, “Oh, no, we’re going to balance the budget now, and we’re… not going to set up that extra special class”.’
They pointed out that Ms Foley had secured record budgets during her stint in the department and that she was proud of her tenure in Education.
Fine Gael figures, in turn, have pointed out that around €400million of the bailout is a structural deficit built up over Ms Foley’s time in the portfolio, something sources close to the Fianna Fáil minister say predates her tenure in the department. ‘Jack was particularly scathing of her and Helen at the Cabinet on Tuesday,’ one well-placed source said.
Norma Foley. Pic: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
Another Cabinet source confirmed that Mr Chambers ‘gave out’ about them at Cabinet, but added: ‘Where are Department of Public Expenditure and Reform [DPER] in all of this? Are they not the financial controller?’
Another figure noted there had been ‘financial problems’ and ‘financial challenges’ over a ‘series of years’ in the department.
While Mr Chambers has not yet formally asked for departments to set out how they can make savings, a Cabinet minister told Extra.ie: ‘That will be resisted, I’d say.’
A second Cabinet figure said that while Mr Chambers did not name the two previous Education Ministers, he pointedly ‘talked about the historical spending issues in Education’ that needed to be resolved and how ‘the extra money required for the demographic challenges would possibly come off every other minister’s bottom line on all of our budget negotiations’.
Mr Chambers’s comments took other ministers by surprise. One source said: ‘Everyone was a bit surprised at that throwaway comment at the end of the meeting, so much so that no one spoke up at the meeting but it’s fair to say that none of us intend [to allow] our own budgets to be reduced next autumn because Jack failed to properly plan for the increased demographic challenges in Education over the last number of years.’
Senior Cabinet figures have warned that ‘there will be consequences for budgets next year, that’s just an inevitability’.
They were keen to stress that it is important to manage the growth in expenditure across departments.
Another Government minister said the ‘first answer will be no’ when the Department of Public Expenditure mandarins come calling looking for other departments to cut spending to bail out the Department of Education.
‘Why are we to carry the can?’ they asked. They said the Department of Education needs to be ‘better prepared’ and to know what their ‘actual’ budgetary requirements would be.
‘It smacks of a little bit of lack of planning and forward planning’ they said. ‘Every department will be precious of what they have, because they already didn’t get everything they looked for [in the last budget negotiations].’
The minister noted they had additional requests for the DPER as a result of unexpected issues arising, and said they now also had to ‘contribute elsewhere’ as well. On forthcoming negotiations with the DPER, they said: ‘It adds to the spice of it.’
They pointed out that the department now also has to pay the salaries for secretaries in schools, adding that the additional cost will now have to be added into the base budget for the department on an ‘ongoing basis’. Ms Naughton yesterday defended her department saying issues were being ‘ironed out’ to ensure that ‘education is adequately resourced’.
‘That’s what our young people deserve, and that’s what I’m fighting for,’ she said. ‘Since I came into this role back in December, it was very clear to me that we hadn’t been adequately funded, and although the budget had increased over the years, we need to keep doing that, because this is demand-led.
‘I need to ensure that we are meeting that demand, ensuring that our young people are getting the education that they deserve … So I need to be able to manage the budget and to make sure that I’m getting the sufficient resources every year.’
She added: ‘That’s what I’m here to do, to ensure that the Programme for Government commitments are rolled out and are funded adequately.’
Senior Cabinet sources have pointed to ‘incompetence’ in the ‘problematic’ department, which has consistently failed to manage its finances in recent years.
It has already received at least three bailouts in as many years. It previously received €850 million in 2023, €960 million in 2024 and €567 million last year.
Cabinet figures have likened the situation to the Department of Health, which has frequently required multi-million-euro bailouts even as it received record levels of funding.
