Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 29 Sep 1999

Vol. 508 No. 1

Written Answers. - Education Costs.

Róisín Shortall

Question:

920 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will provide details of the cost per pupil to the Exchequer in each of the pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18134/99]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin):

The estimated unit costs to the Exchequer per student at primary, post-primary and third-level education based on analysis of the 1998 data available to my Department are as follows:

Primary£1,786 Post-Primary£2,645 Third-Level£4,016 The estimated unit cost to the Exchequer of a pre-school child based on an analysis of expenditure on the early start pilot project and pre-school projects for traveller children is £1,430. These initiatives do, of course, involve significantly shorter periods each day.

I am committed to ongoing improvements in the student support schemes, including increasing the value of maintenance grants and increasing the income limits as resources permit. The Deputy will appreciate that such improvements must have regard to overall resource constraints and competing demands in the education sector.