WHERE'S MY MONEY? · SECTOR 03 OF 08
Education spending in Ireland
Schools, teachers and pupil supports. Compare the 2026 estimate with the published Budget 2027 allocation, and see what this sector covers.
Expenditure estimates — not confirmed final outturn. Source checked 2026-11-13.
01 / FIGURES IN CONTEXT
Education: spending over time
Education spending includes primary and post-primary education, teaching, school supports, school buildings and services for pupils with additional needs. The sector's financial scope should not be confused with the entire higher-education system.
Spending estimate by year (billion euro)
| Year | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | €12.7bn | Provisional 2025 outturn |
| 2026 | €13.5bn | 2026 estimate |
| 2027 | €14.4bn | 2027 Budget estimate |
Changes between estimates may reflect inflation, new allocations and/or transfers of departmental functions. They should not be presented automatically as a like-for-like increase in services.
02 / FOLLOW THE CATEGORY
What does this sector include?
Further and higher education sits within a separate department after the 2020 transfer of functions, so readers should not assume the headline school-sector amount includes every university and apprenticeship programme.
Primary schools
Primary education funding includes classroom provision and related supports, not only the salaries of teaching staff.
Post-primary schools
Post-primary schools serve pupils at second level; school-type differences matter when comparing costs.
Teachers and SNAs
Teachers and special needs assistants carry distinct duties; staffing figures must use correct payroll and headcount definitions.
Special education
Special education supports may be delivered in mainstream or specialised settings and have different funding routes.
School buildings and maintenance
Construction, maintenance and refurbishment are capital or operational expenses depending on the source classification.
School transport
School transport funding is a separate function from classroom teaching and may serve eligible pupils across areas.
DEIS and pupil supports
DEIS and additional pupil supports target specific needs and should not be conflated with general school grants.
Why this distinction matters
An education figure is a budget allocation, not a cash payment to a parent. Per-pupil costs are a separate analysis requiring consistent enrolment and expenditure definitions.
Amounts for individual programmes would need to reconcile to the department and sector totals before appearing in these charts. We do not divide the sector figure evenly among the topics above.
03 / IDENTIFIED PROGRAMME ALLOCATIONS
Explore 3 published funding amounts in education.
These are official 2026 estimates, allocations and selected measures. Some are parts of others, or cover a different reporting boundary. Do not add the bars together or subtract them from the sector total.
Bar lengths indicate the relative size of the amounts in this selected set only. They do not represent a complete or mutually exclusive spending breakdown. Each linked programme page identifies the source, status and any overlap.
Browse all 49 verified allocations →DEPARTMENTAL ACCOUNTING · 2026
What were the 2026 net supply grants?
For this sector, the following Dáil Vote authorisations are listed separately from the gross €13.5bn sector estimate. Net grants are not extra money to add to the figure above, and a Vote may span several public services.
Exact net voted supply grants from 25 March 2026 are a different accounting basis from gross spending and are not a reconciled sector subhead split.
03 / YOUR PERSONAL CONTEXT
A proportional tax receipt, not a traced payment.
If you paid a particular amount in PAYE, USC and employee PRSI, what would education represent if that money were distributed using the national 2026 spending mix?
This multiplies the figure you enter by 10.2%. Public finances pool revenues; this is not a payment receipt or the monetary value of services you personally receive.
Calculate my full Irish tax receipt →04 / COMMON QUESTIONS
Understanding education spending.
Does the education sector total include university spending?
Not all of it. Further and higher education was transferred to a distinct department in 2020; check programme boundaries when comparing years.
Can school spending be calculated for an individual child?
Average expenditure per pupil may be estimated with suitable official figures, but it is not the same as the services that child actually received.
Are school building projects included in the total?
Capital expenditure can be included in departmental estimates, but named projects need separate verified allocations and should not be counted twice.
Related Compound resources
05 / CONTINUE EXPLORING
Explore the rest of the public budget.
Every sector links back to the complete directory and to related categories, so you can follow the spending picture without leaving Compound.
Sources and limitations
All figures on this page come from the published government 2026 Education sector estimate and Budget 2027 expenditure summary. Official methodology describes voted and non-voted totals, provisional outturns and historical classification changes.
Figures are rounded to €0.1bn. Departmental accounting categories are not always the same as everyday descriptions of a service. No supplier or programme allocation is inferred from this headline figure.