Vol. 415 No. 9
46 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Education if his attention has been drawn to, (1) the severe debts faced by the board of management of a school (details supplied) in Dublin 3 and (2) the inadequacy of the per capita grant to meet the needs of the school, and if he will outline the action he intends to take to assist this school.
The running cost of primary schools are not budgeted for individually by my Department. It would not be feasible to grant aid over 3,000 schools in this way. As the Deputy knows, the running costs of the schools are discharged by making funds available through the Department's capitation grant scheme and the contribution from local sources.
In the case of schools in disadvantaged areas, the normal capitation grant is supplemented by grants under the scheme for schools in such areas. The school in question received a substantial supplemental grant under this head in 1991.
In addition, a programme will commence this year on a phased basis under which the capitation grant will be further augmented in order to expand the provision for caretaking and clerical services in national schools with 100 pupils upwards. The school referred to will benefit under this arrangement in the course of the phasing in of the programme.
On the matter of the adequacy of the capitation grant generally, my Department are currently undertaking a review of the recurrent study on the costs of schools generally. I will be considering the existing rates of capitation grants to schools in the light of the results of this study.
