Vol. 478 No. 1
163 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Education whether schools operated by different religions such as Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland or Muslim are all analagously treated by her Department in relation to financial provision for building schools and running and staffing costs. [10618/97]
The scheme for the payment of grants towards the building of recognised primary and secondary schools operates equally for schools of all denominations.
Likewise, in allocating funds to primary schools for running and staffing costs, my Department makes no distinction on the basis of denomination.
Voluntary secondary schools, most of which are managed by religious orders, receive financial assistance towards their running costs under the terms of the free education scheme. The Department meets the cost of teacher salaries and allowances and makes an annual per capita grant towards the recurrent costs of these schools. In addition, these schools may also be eligible for assistance under a range of other grants available under the scheme including grants for the employment of caretakers and secretaries, purchase of school books and certain curricular support grants. These schools may not charge fees.
The Department meets the costs of salaries and allowances for teachers employed by fee charging schools. However, these schools are generally not eligible to receive the per capita grant in respect of their students, support for the employment of secretaries and caretakers or the various other grants for current expenditure to which schools in the free education scheme are entitled.
A small number of schools of the Protestant tradition are eligible for all grants payable to schools and pupils in the free education scheme with the exception of the per capita grant. A block grant is paid to the secondary education committee for distribution among needier Protestant children to enable them to attend a Protestant school.
