GARDAI ARE INVESTIGATING 12 cases of potential school enrolment fraud, Seamus McCarthy, the Comptroller and Auditor General told an Oireachtas committee today. 

A report on the Department of Education grants which are given to recognised schools shows that €709 million was paid out in 2024 to cover “running costs”. 

He told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee that most of the grant funding from the department is allocated on a per capita basis using enrolment figures supplied by the schools.

Since 2010, 15 cases of enrolment irregularities resulting in the overpayment of grants totalling €1.4m to schools have been identified, said McCarthy. 

A further five enrolment irregularity cases are under investigation, he added.  

A total of 12 cases have been referred to gardaí.

However, he noted the department’s own internal controls had not identified the irregularities and the issues had only “come to light through whistleblowers”. 

McCarthy outlined that there are two enrolments systems – one for primary school and one for secondary schools. 

While the PPSN number issued by the Social Protection allows for each student to be uniquely identified, using such an identifier is not mandatory for either of the enrolment systems, said the C&AG. 

The two primary and secondary school national enrolment systems are also not integrated, he said. 

While the PPSN is recorded and can be certified for almost all primary school students, there is about 3% of students in the secondary school enrolment system that does not have an identifier or PPSN assigned. 

“This potentially comprises the integrity of the data used to calculate grant entitlements,” said McCarthy. 

He highlighted that investigations revealed that grant calculation procedures varied across sections of the department, stating that in some cases there has been a lack of documentation of its control checks. 

A “long identified control weakness” the C&AG has identified is that the Department of Education continues to rely on spreadsheets to calculate the grant amounts it allocates. 

Despite this being raised before, he said this is something the department has not addressed. 

The committee heard it has been recommended that the department strengthen its risk management practices relating to the risk of enrolment fraud.