asked the Minister for Education the amount of State aid for primary education being made available in fulfilment of the provisions of Article 42.4 of the Constitution under the headings (a) the acquisition of sites and the development of schools and recreational and sporting facilities and (b) the maintenance and upkeep of schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Primary Education Aid.
40.
A sum of £4 million has been provided for the erection and improvement of national school buildings in the current financial year, and a further amount of £550,000 has been provided in respect of grants towards the cost of heating, cleaning and painting national schools.
National schools are State-aided but not State schools, and the great majority of them are vested in local trustees. The system of State aid does not allow of grants being made towards the cost of acquiring school sites which is a local responsibility undertaken by the school manager on behalf of the local community which the particular school serves. The cost of laying out portion of the school site for suitable recreational facilitiesis, however, included in the figure of cost for building or improving a national school on which the State grant is based.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary agree that the cost of acquiring sites for national schools is creating a heavy burden in many areas? Will he not agree that under the Constitution the State should now help school managers to acquire sites if hardship is caused because of the valuation of the sites being acquired?
I replied to a question on this matter from Deputy Clinton not so very long ago. I indicated that when it comes to fixing the local contribution the money paid for the site is a factor which is taken into account. The Deputy will be aware of the fact that the Constitution does not state that we should provide State schools. It does state that we should provide free primary education and endeavour to supplement and give reasonable aid to private and corporate educational initiatives. That is certainly being done.