Vol. 447 No. 11
185 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education if she will increase the funds made available to second level schools in order to permit a reasonable concession in relation to examination fees to be made to students whose parents are the holders of medical cards in view of the fact that the amount allocated to such schools appears to have been reduced when compared to 1994; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1509/95]
My Department operates a number of measures in order to alleviate hardship arising from the payment of examination entry fees. Possession by a parent or guardian of a medical card is not in itself a guarantee of alleviation except where candidates remain at school to repeat the Leaving Certificate examination. In such circumstances, the course fee of £100 is waived and the examination entry fee is reduced from £120 to a maximum of £44, (the ordinary Leaving Certificate fee payable by first-time candidates).
In the case of necessitous pupils, the ordinary fee payable may also be reduced at the discretion of the school principal and subject to a maximum notified to each school or Vocational Education Committee by my Department. My Department has made £400,000 available to schools and Vocational Education Committees for this purpose in connection with the 1995 examinations. This amount is greater than the amount allocated in 1994 by 1.5 per cent, the estimated increase in candidature. There has been no increase in the rates of examination entry fees since 1994.
The amount allocated to each school or committee in respect of 1995 fees has been based on the results of a questionnaire on hardship issued to schools in 1994. Allocations have been increased or reduced, taking into account the particular circumstances in each school.
School authorities are advised that, for the purposes of fee alleviation, a necessitous pupil may be defined as a child from a home where genuine hardship exists because of: unemployment; prolonged illness of parent; large family with inadequate means; single parent; more than one child from the same family doing the certificate examinations and other circumstances that would connote a similar degree of domestic financial hardship.
