Minister Foley welcomes over €3.8 million to address education disadvantage in Dormant Accounts Action Plan 2023

Minister for Education Norma Foley today welcomed the publication of the 2023 Dormant Accounts Action plan and announced details of the €3.8 million in funding the Department of Education will receive.

This tranche of funding represents an increase of almost €1.8 million on the 2022 allocation from the Fund.

Over €1.4 million is being provided by the department to continue the City Connects Pilot Programme in a number of primary schools in Dublin’s North East Inner City, focussing on the impact of poverty and educational attainment.

An innovative pilot project aimed at establishing closer links between the mainstream and special school systems is awarded €500,000.

The department is also proposing a range of measures to support greater participation and inclusion of Traveller and Roma students in post-primary education as this is where the greatest need for intervention lies. Almost €900,000 is being provided supporting those measures, which will see enhanced Home school Community Liaison (HSCL) for Traveller and Roma students attending non-DEIS schools, where HSCL is generally not available.

Minister Foley said:

“I am pleased to announce that almost €4 million has been allocated from the Dormant Accounts Fund in 2023 providing valuable opportunities and new resources to support students throughout the country at risk of educational disadvantage including students with disabilities and additional needs, Traveller and Roma students and newly arrived migrant students.

“The education measures supported in the 2023 Action Plan along with those supported by other government departments demonstrate the major impact that dormant accounts funding can have in the lives of many, who most need that support and particularly so in these difficult times.”

Other education measures funded in the 2023 Action Plan include:

€300,000 for the Foróige Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) programme to provide opportunities to 10-18 year olds to develop and apply entrepreneurial skills
€180,000 for the Young Social Innovators Growing Youth Participation & Innovation in Irish Communities project to promote civic and social innovation amongst young people in Ireland
€280,000 for to provide access to School Completion Programme structures for children seeking international protection to further enhance and promote school readiness
€115,000 for the City of Dublin ETB Migrant Integration Project providing a range of targeted education interventions for newly arrived migrants aged 13 to 18 impacted by significant periods of disrupted education and for those with low levels of English
€100,000 for The Big Idea, providing a 12 week creative TY programme developing creative thinking skills
€43,956 for the MTU GoalMine Transition Year Programme – providing a 2 day living-lab experience using a design driven innovation process
€20,000 for Time to Count providing a numeracy enhancement programme for primary school children in DEIS or School Completion Programme schools
€20,000 Transport Costs to Glasnevin Trust supporting students from DEIS schools to visit Glasnevin Cemetery

Notes

Background to the Dormant Accounts Fund

The Dormant Accounts Acts 2001-2012, together with the Unclaimed Life Assurance Policies Act 2003, provide a framework for the administration of unclaimed accounts in credit institutions (that is, banks, building societies and An Post) and unclaimed life assurance policies in insurance undertakings.

The main purpose of the legislation is to reunite account or policy holders with their funds in credit institutions or insurance undertakings and in this regard, these bodies are required to take steps to identify and contact the owners of dormant accounts and unclaimed life assurance policies.

However, in order to utilise the unused funds the legislation also introduced a scheme for the disbursement of funds that are unlikely to be reclaimed from dormant accounts and unclaimed policies for the purposes of measures to assist:

1. the personal and social development of persons who are economically or socially disadvantaged;

2. the educational development of persons who are educationally disadvantaged; or

3. persons with a disability