asked the Minister for Education the cost to the State of maintaining pupils in each of the following on 1 March 1980 (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) vocational, (d) comprehensive and (e) third level.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pupils Maintenance Costs.
12.
It is not clear to me what precise information the Deputy is requesting. If it is the cost per pupil I would refer him to my reply to Question No. 363 of 21 November 1979.
In the reply that the Minister mentioned, would he agree that the proportion of finance allocated to primary level education is insufficient in comparison to the amounts allocated to the other sectors?
It is difficult to make comparisons. Needless to say I can assure the Deputy that I am not satisfied with the amount of money available for anything; no educationalist ever is. But I must say that there is a substantial amount of money being made available for the primary sector and it is our intention to emphasise that sector on the basis that without a foundation one cannot build a good house.
Would the Minister agree that, if there is a fault in the system at its base, that fault would carry right through to the top?
That is true. There is no doubt about that. But I must say that, if one has students in an institution and one must provide a computer to teach them, then the cost per pupil will be very much more and this often gives a false picture of the amount of money spent on the various sectors.
Would this be one of the Minister's priorities?
Questions Nos. 13 and 14 are for written answer.