Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Apr 1994

Vol. 441 No. 8

Written Answers. - Breakdown of Funding for Disadvantaged Projects.

Eamon Gilmore

Question:

149 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Education if she will give a breakdown of the £35.6 million spent on disadvantaged projects in 1993 to which she referred in reply to Parliamentary Question No. 243 of 7 December 1993; the reason there is such a difference between this and the £8.5 million allocated for the primary area; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Education (Ms Bhreathnach)

The breakdown of the £35.6 million referred to in the reply to Question 243 of 7 December 1993 as total funding allocated for the alleviation of disadvantage in post-primary schools in 1993 is as follows:

	£m
Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme	15.230
Remedial and Resource Teachers	10.107
Youthreach Programme	6.534
Book Grant Scheme	2.809
Special initiatives to improve retention rate of pupils from disadvantaged areas in post-primary education, including home-school-liaison scheme	0.588
Alleviation of fees for the Certificate Examinations	0.359
Total	35.597

The difference between the total figures quoted for primary and post-primary levels arises in the main from the inclusion in the post-primary figure of amounts related to the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme, Youthreach and the examination fee alleviation scheme, which has no counterpart at primary level.

In addition, funding in repect of remedial and resource teachers was not included in the primary figure. For comparision purposes, the Deputy may wish to note that the funding on remedial and resource teachers at primary level amounted to £19.25 million in 1993.