Vol. 483 No. 1
214 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Education and Science the intervention, if any, he can make in cases where a person has not received a pay increase in four years and whose employer is funded by a Department of State and is pleading inability to pay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19925/97]
230 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason his Department's scheme, which provides grants to schools to employ caretaker and clerical staff, is not directly linked to payscales; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that, due to the absence of this link, some staff employed under this scheme have not received a pay increase for four years; the action, if any, he will take to end this anomaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19926/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 214 and 230 together.
My Department provides funding towards the cost of caretaking services in primary schools under two separate schemes. One scheme is the 1979 scheme for the employment of caretakers under which my Department meets the full cost of salary and employer's PRSI. However, this scheme is being phased out as posts become vacant. The second scheme is the provision by my Department of additional capitation grants for primary schools as agreed under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress and has been in operation since 1 September 1992.
The Programme for Economic and Social Progress provided for the introduction of a phased scheme of additional capitation grants with a view to expanding the provision of caretaking and clerical services to all primary schools with 100 pupils or more. This scheme did not provide for the linking of those additional grants to any particular payscale. In the circumstances the priority has been to extend the scheme in the first instance to schools which have no caretaking or clerical provision. The position of schools which are currently in receipt of the maximum grant available under the terms of the scheme will be examined in the context of any improvements to the scheme which may be implemented in the future.
