Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 22 Mar 1994

Vol. 440 No. 4

Written Answers. - Dunboyne (Meath) School.

John Bruton

Question:

385 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education if a consultancy study done for her Department approximately two years ago on the comparative cost of difference types of second level school showed the annual cost to her Department per pupil year as £183 for voluntary secondary schools, £259 for community schools and £295 for community colleges; and if she took this into account before deciding to impose a community college model on Dunboyne, County Meath against the wishes of local parents and the majority of local elected public representatives.

The considerations which led to my decision to approve of a new community college in Dunboyne did not include real or perceived differences in the funding of different types of second-level schools.

As I stated in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 7 on 1 March 1994, the main criteria used in deciding on the management structures for green-field second-level schools are:

—the requirement that the school be capable of providing a comprehensive curriculum with suitable subject choices for a wide range of pupil aptitudes, abilities and choices;

—the need for the school to be open to all the children of the community and to be capable of gaining the support of a wide spectrum of the community it proposes to serve irrespective of religious denomination, social class or financial needs;
—the desirability that the board of management should, as far as possible, be fully representative of educational, religious, parent and teacher interests.
—the requirement that, given the considerable expenditure of public moneys on the capital and current costs of a green-field school, those involved in running the school are ultimately accountable to the Minister for Education through the Department as regards expenditure of state funds and for the implementation of educational policy in the widest sense.
—the need for a green-field school, catering as it does for rapidly developing urban areas, to be flexible in its ability to adapt to changing needs in the educational area and to respond to community needs as regards, for example, the provision of an adult education programme.
—the desirability that such a school should, subject to the overriding claims of the school itself, be available for community use outside school hours.
The figures quoted from the consultancy study are figures for total expenditure including some teacher pay costs, not Department grants. In relation to the care needed in the interpretation of figures from the study and the improvements in funding since the study was carried out, I would refer the Deputy to my reply to Parliamentary Questions 3et al on 17 November 1993.
Top
Share