Martin Brady
Question:185 Mr. M. Brady asked the Minister for Education and Science the plans, if any, he has to provide a caretaker and secretarial service for Scoil Áine senior national school, Raheny, Dublin 5. [4437/00]
Written Answers. - Secretarial and Caretaking Services.
My Department provides funding towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services in primary schools under two separate schemes. One scheme is the 1978-79 scheme for the employment of school secretaries and caretakers under which my Department meets the full cost of salary and employer's PRSI. This scheme is, however, being phased out as posts become vacant.
Arising from the Programme for Economic and Social Progress – PESP – a second scheme was introduced in 1992 whereby my Department provides additional capitation grants for primary schools towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services. Under the PESP scheme, schools receive grants of £30 per pupil, based on their enrolments, which are paid as additions to the standard per capita grant.
With effect from January of this year, all primary schools with 100 or more pupils have become eligible for a grant towards secretarial and caretaking services under this scheme. Costing £2.7 million, this improvement of the scheme will benefit approximately 650 schools serving 90,000 pupils. My Department is currently making arrangements for the issuing of these grants to schools and it is expected that they will issue in March of this year.
The Deputy will also be aware that an additional £9 million was provided for in the recent budget, over the next two years, which will enable me to extend and improve the supports available to all primary schools. Details of the implementation of this will be worked out in the near future following consultations and will, when taken together with the earlier move, make a major contribution to assisting schools.
The position regarding the school referred to by the Deputy is that it is currently involved in a secretarial sharing arrangement with another school under the 1978 scheme. In addition to the shared secretary arrangement, the school also currently receives £15 per pupil, towards the cost of caretaking services, under the PESP scheme.
I recently met with the principal of this school to discuss this and other issues of concern to the school authorities. I am having the matter examined in my Department in the context of the working out of the details of the improvements in the scheme outlined above.