Fianna Fáil has hit out after it was revealed that there will be no minor works grant next year and it is likely to be paid in January 2019.

School principals have also raised concerns after the Education Minister indicated that the grant may not be paid next year.

The party's spokesperson on Education, Thomas Byrne TD, said: "The only year that this grant was not rolled out was 2012, during the height of recession. It would be bizarre if, as the economy starts to turn, this were to be the key turning point at which the grant would not be paid.

-- Advertisement --

"Let me be clear – this not a discretionary grant but, rather, money on which schools have come to depend on every year to do necessary minor works and without which they could not function.

"What should happen and what Fianna Fáil advocates for is that the scheme and others like it should be put on a statutory footing such that Ministers would not have discretion over them."

(CD/JP)