Finian McGrath
Question:170 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science the amount of finance which has been spent to date in 2003 in tackling educational disadvantage. [14978/03]
Written Answers. - Educational Programmes.
Since my appointment as Minister for Education and Science I have made it clear that tackling educational disadvantage at every level of the education system is one of my key priorities. To this end, I have allocated approximately €455 million, in 2003, on programmes which are specifically designed to tackle educational disadvantage in the formal and informal education sector. I wish to make it clear that this expenditure relates specifically to those schemes that target expenditure at socio-economically disadvantaged students and does not include expenditure on those schemes that benefit the general student population.