asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will increase the school meals grant of £3,050 for Connemara during the coming year.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Connemara Schools Meals Grant.
42.
The School Meals (Gaeltacht) Act, 1930, provides for recoupment up to 50 per cent. of expenditure incurred by local authorities in the provision of meals to children attending national schools in the Gaeltacht subject to a maximum total recoupment of £10,000.
The amount expended by Galway County Council in respect of the financial year 1960/61 was £6,150, of which the maximum allowable under the law, £3,075, has been paid by the Department.
The amount payable for the present year will depend on the amount expended by them on the service subject to the overriding maximum mentioned above.
Would the Minister indicate when the last increase was given?
What last increase?
That is what I am asking.
There is no question of an increase. It depends on the amount expended by the county council subject to a total maximum of £10,000.
Would the Minister examine this scheme? If he does he will see that this grant is completely at variance with reality.
Of course, the question of the area over which it is expended would also have to be examined.
We are talking about the cost of living and not the area.
It is supposed to be a Gaeltacht scheme. I understand the area has not been changed.
Is the Minister suggesting that the cost of living has not risen there?
This is a scheme for Gaeltacht schools only.
I know that.