I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £1,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1990, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Education, for certain services administered by that office, and for payment of certain grants and grants-in-aid.
I am now seeking the approval of the House for four Supplementary Estimates.
The position with regard to gross expenditures for the four Education Votes is that we anticipate having an overall overrun of £4.909 million. This amounts to only 0.36 per cent and in the overall context of a gross expenditure of almost £1,372 million represents in my view extremely good management.
The overrun of £4.909 million is the result of savings of £7.365 million on the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Education and of £1.215 million on the Vote for Second Level and Further Education, offset by deficits of £204,000 on the vote for First Level Education and £13.285 million on the Vote for Third-Level and Further Education.
The arrangements prescribed by the Department of Finance in relation to ESF aid require that provision be made in the relevant votes for the full cost of ESF-aided programmes and the resultant aid be brought to account as Appropriations-in-Aid. Consequently, the full amount provided for in the Votes may be spent only when and if the ESF aid has been received.
The Estimate for the Vote for Second Level and Further Education envisaged receipts from the ESF of £50.622 million. Receipts to date amount to £21.422 million. It is expected that a further amount of £13.682 million will be received before the end of the year. However, it is not certain that this will in fact be received before the end of the year, and if received it is likely to be received late in December and too late to allow for the processing of the payments which must be made from the Votes before then. This is a balancing mechanism pending receipt of the money which is guaranteed.
The Supplementary Estimate now sought for the Vote for Second-level and Further Education will provide Exchequer funding to meet payments which the approved Estimates envisaged would be funded from Appropriations-in-Aid. If the Appropriations-in-Aid are in fact received before the end of the year, they will reduce the actual charge on the Exchequer and the additional money voted will be returned as savings. Some of the expected shortfall of £15.498 million may be received in 1991 and have the effect of reducing the charge on the Exchequer in that year.
The four Supplementary Estimates amount to £38.582 million and comprise: a token £1,000 for the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Education; £0.442 million for the Vote for First Level Education; £28.439 million for the Vote for second level and further education; and a Supplementary Estimate for £9.7 million for the Vote for third level and further education.
A token Supplementary Estimate of £1,000 is sought for this Vote. This is required to make available a grant-in-aid of £670,000 to Dublin Zoo in 1990. This will put the zoo in a satisfactory financial position pending consideration of the report of the committee established by the Government. This additional expenditure from subhead B.15, the grant-in-aid fund for general expenses of cultural, scientific, and educational organisations, is offset by savings on other subheads of the Vote. On subhead A.6, savings of £0.118 million arise on consultancy services due to delays in commencement of some projects. Consultancy services are not always as they appear — that is the terminology used. I do not, nor do I intend to, engage in public relations consultancies of any kind, that is consultancies with regard to various measures of computerisation, reports with regard to unit cost studies and matters of that nature.
On subhead B.9, grants amounting to £0.551 million under the grant scheme for the provision of recreational facilities will not be paid this year as certain projects have not progresed to the stage where the grants are payable. I want to assure the House and particularly Deputy Deenihan, that grants will be paid as soon as these projects reach the stages when they become eligible for grant payments. As regards the recreational grants scheme and the money from the national lottery for national and regional sports centres, my colleague, who is on Government business today and is unable to be here, gave the assurance at oral Question Time two weeks ago and I reiterate it here today, that the moneys as needed from the lottery will be drawn down as the national and regional sports centres come on course. The reason for the delay with the national sports centres has been well documented at oral Question Time. The regional sports centres are on target with their various plans.
An additional £1.1 million is sought for special services for children in care — subhead H. Gross expenditure will be greater than expected and contributions from the health boards and local authorities will be less than expected. An extra £600,000 will be needed for staff costs, particularly the cost of relief staff and overtime. Repairs to buildings, furniture and equipment and increased compensation claims, will cost a further £250,000. An extra £250,000 is needed for capital expenditure to provide for final payments in respect of the major project in St. Joseph's, Clonmel which had been expected to be paid in 1991 — good weather led to the work being concluded earlier — and the refurbishing of the Oberstown Centre, the girls' remand and assessment centre.
A further sum of £486,000 is sought for the superannuation of national school teachers — subhead J. The cost of building, equipment and furnishing of national schools will be £500,000 greater than expected. Provision has to be made — I was glad to be able to do so — for classrooms and necessary furniture in a number of schools in major urban areas and for new accommodation and a security system for the central model school in Marlborough Street following a fire.
These additional provisions are largely offset by savings in other subheads of the Vote. Due to fluctuations in teaching numbers during the summer there will be savings of £1.379 million on the provision for the salaries of national school teachers — subhead A. Due to demographic changes, the cost of the capitation grant scheme in 1990 was less than the estimated cost by £103,000. There will be a surplus of £162,000 in miscellaneous appropriations-in-aid related to refunds of salaries of teachers.
The provision for salaries of teachers in comprehensive and community schools has proved inadequate for two reasons. A greater number of new schools came on stream than had been anticipated. The additional cost of implementing the new terms and conditions of certain part-time teachers was underestimated. A sum of £1.35 million is being provided for this purpose in subhead E.
An additional £1.2 million under subhead M is being provided for a number of projects in the post-primary school building programme which are currently in various stages of construction. There was an under-estimate for miscellaneous — subhead L — and an additional amount to meet payments including a grant to the National Parents Council is now being provided.
I have already referred to the position in relation to ESF aid. For technical drafting reasons, the Supplementary Estimate for the Vote assumes that no further ESF aid will be received before the end of the year and, consequently, provision is made for a shortfall in appropriations-in-aid of £28.438 million. There are offsetting savings on other subheads of the Vote which are due to over-estimations on salaries and allowances of secondary teachers and grants to vocational education committees. Payments to local authorities in respect of the superannuation of VEC staff will be £600,000 less than expected due to overestimation.
A Supplementary Estimate is now required for the Vote for third level and further education to allow for the payment of an additional capital sum of £9.7 million to the Higher Education Authority under subhead I.1. This is to provide a grant-in-aid to supplement funding from private sources to allow for the purchase by UCD of the buildings and part of the land of the former Carysfort College and to adapt and equip it for use as a commerce and business education facility. This purchase by UCD will facilitate the intake of a substantial number of additional under-graduate students per annum on a range of courses, especially the commerce and computer studies disciplines. I understand that private funding will amount to approximately £2 million. We have received £1.75 million from the religious authorities which has gone into the general treasury fund. Deputy Gilmore received an answer on this matter recently in reply to a Dáil question. That can be taken as an overall perspective of what is happening to Carysfort College. Indeed, other matters will perhaps bear fruit in the months ahead with regard to arrangements for Carysfort College.
I am happy to confirm to the House that it is the Government's intention that Carysfort College will remain in full use as a valuable educational resource. I would like to express my personal satisfaction at what is a reasonably happy outcome to what was a long and contentious matter. I commend the Supplementary Estimate to the House.
