Finance Minister visits Carrigaline school to chat about maths and Budget 2024 with students

FINANCE Minister Michael McGrath paid a visit to sixth class pupils at St Mary’s National School in Carrigaline on Friday to chat about maths and the budget, in an event that was described by the school’s acting principal as “a real shot in the arm for learning in school”.

The Minister’s visit was part of a ‘Children’s Budget Briefing’ to kick start Maths Week 2023, which runs until Sunday, October 22.

Boys and girls aged 11-12 participated in Friday’s workshop at St Mary’s in Ms Róisín O’Sullivan’s sixth class where they balanced the ‘Children’s Budget’, using their maths skills to decide how they would like the Government’s money to be spent.

The exercise was led by Maths Week Ireland coordinator, Eoin Gill.

The goal was to determine the children’s views of priority spending areas through discussion and debate and then to fairly and wisely distribute a nominal €100 budget among these areas.

They broke into six groups or ‘cabinets’ for discussions, allocated their budgets and a collective budget was then decided by the class using their maths skills to create an average from the six groups.

“It was great to see these fantastic young people put their minds into figuring out what a budget is all about, demonstrating great thoughtfulness and social awareness in the process,” Minister McGrath said, commenting following the event.

“Our learners of today are our leaders of the future.

“I was delighted to meet the children and to hear their views on life and living in Ireland today and how Government can society and the economy through our budgeting process.

“Promoting the value of maths is essential not just for academic pursuits but for fostering critical thinking and problem-solving in every aspect of life.

“Embracing and emphasising maths and numeracy ensures that we equip future generations with the tools they need to navigate an increasingly complex world,” he continued.

Speaking to The Echo, acting school principal Olive Bradfield said the event allowed children see “the relevance of maths in everyday life”.

Ms Bradfield praised the level of engagement from the children and said the budget exercise and the Minister’s visit was “a real shot in the arm for learning in school”, enabling pupils to realise the practical application of maths.

Maths Week is sponsored by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Discover Programme and the Department of Education.

The annual event is coordinated by Calmast, the STEM engagement centre at South-East Technological University (SETU), with the core objective of fostering awareness and a positive attitude towards maths and its practical applications.

It is run with more than 50 partner organisations including the universities, institutes of technology, libraries, schools, training colleges and employers.