Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 11 Mar 2003

Vol. 563 No. 1

Written Answers - Schools Insurance.

Finian McGrath

Question:

295 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science his plans or strategies to deal with the exorbitant insurance premiums of ?24,000 for Ardscoil Rís secondary school, Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9; the reason his Department paid the insurance for community, comprehensive and vocational schools and yet refuse to assist religious schools; and if assistance will be given to Ardscoil Rís towards the construction of an urgently needed computer room. [6900/03]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey)

School insurance arrangements have evolved in a manner that reflects the different traditions and structures of the voluntary secondary, comprehensive and community and VEC sectors.

In the case of voluntary secondary schools, it is a matter for the managerial authorities of individual schools to arrange insurance cover on school property and against public liability. Grant aid towards voluntary secondary school funding costs are provided by my Department by way of per capita grants which may be used for this purpose. In the case of vocational schools and colleges, the relevant vocational education committee arranges insurance cover. With regard to community and comprehensive schools, the State provides a general indemnity to the authorities of these schools in lieu of their taking out insurance cover against liabilities which may arise.

Since 1997, the Government has made significant improvements in the level of funding to voluntary secondary schools. For example, the standard per capita grant in 1997 was €224.74. This has been increased to €266.49 in the current school year. An additional per capita grant of €38.09 is paid to disadvantaged schools bringing the total per capita grant in the case of these schools to more than €300. In addition, under the school services support initiative, second level schools have benefited from further significant increases in the support grant from €25.40 per pupil in the year 2000 to €99 per pupil over this school year.

Further improvements also include a range of equalisation measures designed to reduce historic anomalies in the funding arrangements for the different school types at second level. Under the terms of a recent equalisation measure, the support services grant was further increased by €28 per pupil with effect from September 2002. This brought the support services grant in the case of secondary schools to €116.88 per pupil from September 2002 and to €127 per pupil from 1 January 2003. This increase is in addition to the range of equalisation grants of up to €15,554 per school, €44.44 per pupil, per annum approved for secondary schools in December 2001. For a school with 500 pupils, this amounts to extra funding of up to €100,000 per annum, and annual grants of €236,761, €255,811 in the case of disadvantaged schools, towards general expenses and support services, including insurance costs.

In the case of Ardscoil Rís my Department recently provided capital grant aid in the amount of €66,343.95 for works which the school's insurance company required to be carried out, to ensure continuance of insurance cover.

With regard to the provision of a computer room at the school, an application in this matter is under consideration in the planning section of my Department. Consistent with normal practice, an examination of all relevant issues is being undertaken with a view to determining the long-term accommodation needs of the school. This analysis, when complete, together with the school's long-term projected enrolment, will provide a basis for making a decision on the school's request.

The 2003 school building programme has been published and is available on my Department's website at www.education.ie. Given the level of financial commitments to be met from projects already in construction, I do not envisage that my Department will be in a position during this year to initiate architectural planning for any further building projects, including the provision of a computer room at Ardscoil Rís. The project will, however, be considered for the 2004 capital programme.