Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2005
704 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Science the expenditure on pre-primary education by her Department in 2002 and 2004; and this expenditure as a percentage of GDP; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22349/05]
View answerOutside of junior classes in primary schools, my Department's main role in the area of early childhood education encompasses pre-school provision for children from disadvantaged areas, for Traveller children and those with special needs.
My Department funds 48 pre-school classes for traveller children. In the special needs sector, there are 14 pre-school classes for children with autism located throughout the country. In addition, ten stand alone autism facilities that provide an applied behavioural analysis model of response to children with autism cater for a number of children of pre-school age. My Department has also sanctioned the establishment of a pre-school for six children with hearing impairment on a pilot basis.
Expenditure on pre-primary education in 2002 was as follows: special education provision, estimated, €900,000*; centre for early childhood development and education, €444,300; Early Start, estimated, €4,000,000**; Rutland Street Project, estimated, €580,000**; pre-schools for Travellers, estimated, €1,250,000**. Total expenditure in 2002, €7,174,300 while GDP in 2002 was €129,344 million. This figure is taken from the Central Statistics Office Statistical Year Book 2003. Estimated expenditure in 2002 as a percentage of GDP is 0.006%.
Expenditure on pre-primary education in 2004: special education provision, estimated, €1,700,000*; centre for early childhood development and education, €1,302,500; Early Start, estimated, €4,000,000**; Rutland Street Project, estimated, €640,000**; pre-schools for Travellers, estimated, €1,250,000**. Total expenditure in 2004 was €8,892,500 while GDP in 2004 was €102,518 million. This figure is taken from the Central Statistics Office quarterly national accounts quarter 4 2004 and year 2004 preliminary estimated expenditure in 2004 as a percentage of GDP was 0.009%.
*There is no separate budget for this in Special Education so this is an approximate figure.
**This figure includes salary costs for teachers. The salary costs are approximate figures.
In addition my Department provided home tuition grants for children with special needs to the value of €5.3 million in 2004. Comparable figures for 2002 are not available. It is not possible to establish how much of this funding would be in respect of pre-school children. However, grants are paid for children age two and a half and above.
The bulk of pre-school places are financed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, which has provided unprecedented levels of funding for child care in recent years. The Department of Health and Children also provides grants to child care groups, including to community groups in areas of social and economic disadvantage.
