In excess of 200,000 families are expected to reap the benefits from the provision of complimentary textbooks for Leaving Cert students in the coming year, representing an approximate value of €740. As of September 2025, households with children in transitional, fifth and sixth years won’t face costs for study materials such as textbooks and copybooks, among others, although the initiative is exclusive to non-fee paying secondary schools.
The Budget for 2025 also expands the offering of complimentary hot meals in schools, to extend coverage to all 3000+ primary schools beginning from next year. The updated policy, which currently caters to around 2,200 primary schools, will provide relief to an estimated additional 200,000 pupils.
The Department of Education’s €11.8 billion budget for 2025 also earmarks support for the launch of a pilot scheme to combat “holiday hunger”, offering meals during the summer break to underprivileged students. The significant funding boost will primarily account for salary increases, driven by the hiring of an additional 1,600 support staff for students with special needs, and the recruitment of 768 new special education teachers.
With a special focus on inclusivity in education, these individuals will provide vital support to children with added requirements at both primary and secondary levels. The budget also allots an extra €52 million to the school transport scheme, which includes hike in the grant rate for specialised transport, and the initiation of new trial projects.
The budget also includes a comparatively slight increase in school capitation funding of €10 million, while another €9 million is to be reserved to help secondary schools enforce restrictions on mobile phone usage, possibly via secure storage pouches for the devices.
Additionally, more than €1 billion is to be devoted to the establishment of over 330 school infrastructures to accommodate the increasing student population, predominantly at a secondary level.
For third-level education, the past year’s reduction of €1,000 to the student registration fee, termed a “one-off”, is set to continue into the new academic year.
The upper limit of tuition fees for undergraduate students has been raised to €2,000, impacting around 100,000 attendees of higher education institutions. Earnings eligibility for student grant and part-time fee programmes will also be amplified, accompanied by an augmentation of €1,000 in the tuition contribution attributed to postgraduate grant beneficiaries. Furthermore, a majority of PhD students will witness an annual increase in their stipend from €22,000 to €25,000 – a measure for which activists have passionately campaigned.
A one-time cut of 33 per cent in contribution fees will also benefit 14,000 higher education apprentices. These changes are part of an extensive €4.5 billion budget for the Further and Higher Education Department, marking an upward adjustment of roughly €400 million from the previous year.
To meet the long-standing demands of universities, the Government intends to capitalise on a substantial surplus in the National Training Fund, sourced through an employer levy. A staggering €1.5 billion is set to be accumulated between today and 2030, thereby augmenting higher education core funding by an extra €150 million annually by the 2030 timeline. Around €50 million of this additional core funding is scheduled to be released in 2025. Patrick O’Donovan, Minister for Further and Higher Education, stated that the Government’s move answers the long-held pleas of the higher education sector.
Provisions are also in place to develop over 1,200 student beds within regional universities, and to “unveil” approximately 1,000 student beds in projects at Maynooth University, DCU and UCD.
Reviews of the announced measures varied, with the Irish Universities Association praising the funding package but mentioning that the funding deficit identified in 2022 was not entirely bridged. The Irish National Teachers’ Association (INTO), shocked by the budget allocation, criticised the Government’s choice to dedicate more funding to mobile phone pouches over increasing monetary resources for schools in dire need. The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) expressed that the efforts fell short in mitigating underinvestment and restoring previous cutbacks.