I welcome the opportunity of appearing before the Select Committee on Education and Science to discuss the additional sums required in the Supplementary Estimates for the four education Votes. The year 1998 has seen a significant increase in allocations for my Department and with the support of the Minister for Finance we have been able to drive forward major improvements in a number of areas. These Supplementary Estimates arise mainly because of the following factors: additional capital for first and second level schools; technical difficulties in implementing fortnightly pay for second level teachers; additional expenditure under some grant-in-aid sub-heads, mainly youth services and third level institutions; additional grants for books for first and second level schools; under-estimation of the provision for teachers' pensions and the bringing forward of the payment date from the end of September to a date before Christmas and increasing the provision for the education technology investment fund for the newly launched research and development programme. I am seeking approval for four Supplementary Estimates amounting to £105.148 million. In explaining these estimates I will leave some of the smaller amounts until the detailed discussions on the Vote areas.
With regard to Vote 26, a Supplementary Estimate totalling £30.449 is required in the Vote for the office of the Minister for Education and Science. The Vote includes all the basic operations of the Department and various general programmes. The Supplementary Estimate is comprised of the following elements: Subhead B.9., a Supplementary Estimate of £388,000 is required to enable the provision of increased grant aid to voluntary youth organisations to address the shortfall in current funding, mainly in the area of pay. Deputies will be aware the Minister for Finance has announced significant additional expenditure in this area on top of this increase.
With regard to subhead B13 — the Royal Irish Academy of Music — the funds in this grant-in-aid subhead are allocated to the academy to meet the costs of the estimate deficit between the academy's income and expenditure on current account. A sum of £50,000 is being sought by way of Supplementary Estimate to cover costs which have arisen during 1998 and which cannot be met from the original provision. These costs relate to unavoidable expenditure associated with the replacement and upgrading of defective and aged musical instruments and general maintenance of the facilities.
With regard to subhead B19 — Scientific and Technological Education (Investment) Fund, an additional sum of £30 million is required to give effect to the provisions to the amendment to the Act currently before the Dáil which is intended to provide part of the funding for the new initiative to develop research in higher education, which I announced on 19 November.
The initiative involves capital funding of £150 million, of which £75 million will be derived from the Exchequer and £75 million from the private sector, and £30 million in current funding over a three year period from 1999 to 2001. It provides for the establishment of a joint public/private research and development programme in third level education institutions and is additional to other sources of funding for research. It will support research in science and technology, the humanities and social sciences and will focus on supporting quality research, the commercial application of which will be long-term rather immediate or medium term. Deputies will know that this initiative has been widely acclaimed in academic and business circles. It demonstrates our commitment to keeping Ireland at the cutting edge of research.
With regard to Vote 27 — First Level Education — a Supplementary Estimate totally £21.1 million is required. The Supplementary Estimate comprises the following elements: under subhead C — Captiation Grants towards operating costs of National Schools — a supplementary amount of £1 million is required to fund the cost of capitation grants towards the operating costs of primary schools, which will be greater than anticipated. Estimates are prepared on the basis of projected enrolments but enrolments were higher than projected in 1997-8. The variation was approximately 1 per cent.
Under subhead F.1 — Other Grants and Services — I am seeking a supplementary amount of £3.5 million to assist primary schools for the purchase of school library books. This is to be taken together with a similar allocation to second level schools and will make a significant impact in school throughout the country. We are making a basic grant to every primary school of approximately £1,000 and £3,140 will be made available to schools that are designated as disadvantaged. This is designed to enable schools to buy books for their school libraries or, in schools where there are no school libraries, to establish school libraries, especially in smaller schools.
Subhead G — Child Care Assistance for the Handicapped in National Schools — makes provision for the cost of salaries and employer's PRSI in respect of posts of child care assistants which are sanctioned by my Department in schools catering for children with special needs. The number of these child care assistant posts have increased significantly during the course of the year and an additional sum of £500,000 is required.
Members of the committee will be aware that I recently launched a major new initiative in the special education area. This includes an automatic entitlement to child care support for children with special needs who have been assessed as requiring such support. As a result of this initiative, 104 child care posts have already been sanctioned in 1998.
Under subhead J — Superannuation of Teachers — an additional £8.1 million is sought for primary teacher pensions to advance the pay date of pensions due in December from the end of the month to a pre-Christmas date. Hitherto these payments have been made on the second last working day of December, where they are a charge on the following year. With effect from 1998 the December 1998, the December payments will be a charge on the current year.
The bringing forward of the December date of issue to before Christmas has been sought for many years by retired teachers and will bring the payment of their monthly pensions into line with the payment of most other public service pensioners. Second level teachers will also be paid pre-Christmas in future. This is a major service improvement, which I know will be welcomed by all retired teachers. Part of the additional sum sought is required because of a greater than anticipated number of teachers retiring in 1998.
On subhead K1 — Building Equipment and Furnishing of National School — an additional £8 million is sought for the capital funding for primary schools. This demonstrates the Government's commitment to tackle sub-standard accommodation in schools. Arising out of the additional allocation, a greatly enhanced capital programme is under way. This year, major works are being undertaken at approximately 150 schools while a further 700 schools will have received grants for improvements projects.
With regard to Vote 28 — Second Level and Further Education — a Supplementary Estimate totalling £45.725 million is required. The Supplementary Estimate comprises of the following elements: on subhead A1 — Secondary Teachers — Incremental Salary Grant — I am seeking an additional allocation of £20 million. It will be recalled it had been intended to introduce fortnightly pay for teachers in secondary, community and comprehensive school with effect from 1 December 1998. This would have meant that a portion of salary normally due for payment in December would not fall due for payment until January 1999. For technical reasons it will not be possible to introduce fortnightly during 1998. In view of this change, payment of the full amount of salary in respect of December will now fall due for payment in 1998 and this change will require and additional provision of £16 million. I can go into the details of that later if Deputies wish. The balance of £4 million sought for subhead A is due to underestimation of teacher salary costs.
The position with regard to subhead E — Comprehensive and Community Schools — Running Costs — is similar to subhead A. The amount sought for this subhead is £5.5 million, of which £4.5 million is due to the postponement of fortnightly pay and £1 million is due to under-estimation.
On subhead D — Superannuation of Secondary, Comprehensive and Community School Teachers — an additional £2 million is requested for pensions of comprehensive and community schools teachers mainly to enable the payment date to be brought forward to a pre-Christmas date. This change is similar to the new arrangement for primary teacher pensions. Part of the additional sum sought is required due to a greater than anticipated number of teachers retiring during 1998.
On subhead K — Miscellaneous — an additional £2.5 million is sought to assist second level schools with the purchase of books for school libraries. Each school will receive £2,500 and disadvantaged schools will receive £5,300.
On subhead L — Second Level Schools — Building Grants and Capital Costs — a Supplementary Estimate of £15.725 million is sought for post-primary buildings on top of what was already an increased allocation. This additional funding has enabled much needed and long delayed projects to proceed. At both levels an unprecedented number of capital projects are under way because of extra funding provided by the Government during the year and a desire to move ahead with projects and not to stall with capital projects that were close to going to tender or under construction.
With regard to Vote 29 — Third Level and Further Education — subhead B2 deals with An tÚdarás um Ard Oideachas — General (non-capital) Grants to Universities and Colleges and designated Institutions of Higher Education (Grant-in-Aid), the funds in this subhead are allocated to the Higher Education Authority for disbursement to the universities and other institutions of higher education operating under the aegis of the authority. A further sum of £787,000 is being sought to cover items which have arisen during 1998 and could not have been foreseen when the 1998 Estimates were prepared. The items mainly related to staff superannuation and wage/salary settlements which arose in the course of 1998.
On subhead C — Grants in respect of the running costs of Regional Technical Colleges, the Institute of Technology and certain Vocational Education Committee Colleges — a Supplementary Estimate of £5 million is required to meet the following additional costs: a sum of £1 million is required to meet the costs of extra apprentices in 1998 and £4 million is due to the running costs in the sector in respect of new courses, additional student numbers and skills shortages initiatives etc., being greater than originally estimated. This extra funding again demonstrates the unequalled commitment of the Government to supporting the technological sector of higher education.
I am seeking a Supplementary Estimate of £2 million for subhead M2 — Higher Education Authority — Building Grants and Capital Costs to Universities and Colleges and Designated Institutions of Higher Education. This is required to allocate funding of £500,000 each to St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, and Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, and £1 million to NUI, Cork. The proposed funding to St. Patrick's College will enable the college to undertake priority works necessary to comply with health and safety regulations and to provide urgently required computer facilities to facilitate information technology training for students as well as linkages with Dublin City University.
The funding to Mary Immaculate College will enable it to undertake priority works necessary to comply with health and safety regulations and also to contribute towards the upgrading of the college's computer facilities for students. The balance of £1 million will provide funding to NUI, Cork, to provide for the relocation and refurbishment of premises for the biological services unit, which was previously housed in the Munster Institute, and to promote and facilitate the research activities of the unit. The necessity for this funding arises from the transfer by NUI Cork of existing operations at the Munster Institute and the consequent relocation of those facilities.
Overall, these supplementaries represent significant extra funding being applied to all areas of education. They underpin an unprecedented level of funding for developing and improving our school buildings; they allow us to proceed with an historic initiative to develop the research capacity of our colleges; they allow us to dramatically increase the quality of school libraries throughout the country; and they allow us to improve the service available to retired teachers. In addition to the significant increases in education spending which were already included in the 1998 Estimates, these supplementaries mark another important move forward for Irish education.
I commend them to the committee.
