Skip to main content
Normal View

Insurance Costs.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 March 2004

Tuesday, 30 March 2004

Questions (39)

Liz McManus

Question:

150 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Education and Science his plans to address rising insurance costs for schools; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the INTO have stated that money spent on insurance could be better spent on teaching materials; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9782/04]

View answer

Written answers

Funding is provided to primary and secondary schools by way of per capita grants which afford schools considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. This is in general a preferable approach to putting in place grants for specific cost items such as insurance. Also, moving to a position where the Government covers the insurance costs of primary and secondary schools may encourage the insurance sector to keep increasing premia on the basis that the State would meet the cost. Having made the above point, I emphasise that such an approach would also reduce the incentive for school management to reduce risks.

I am committed to improving the funding position of primary and secondary schools in the light of available resources. At a time of increased financial constraints, the recent announcement of further significant increases in the funding of primary and secondary schools is a clear demonstration of my commitment to prioritise available resources to address the needs of schools. In the case of primary schools the standard rate of capitation grant has been increased from €57 in 1997 to €121.58 per pupil from 1 January last, an increase of almost 113%. In the same period, the rate of capitation grant in the case of secondary schools has increased from €222.74 to €274 per pupil. A measure of the increase in overall funding for secondary schools is that by comparison with 1997, a secondary school with 500 pupils now receives extra annual funding of up to €108,000 per annum.

Top
Share