Noel Dempsey
Ceist:107 Mr. Dempsey asked the Minister for Education if she will abolish the fees for the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate examinations. [3602/95]
Vol. 449 No. 4
107 Mr. Dempsey asked the Minister for Education if she will abolish the fees for the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate examinations. [3602/95]
There are no proposals to abolish examination entry fees for the junior certificate and leaving certificate examinations.
Examination entry fees cover only part of the cost of running the certificate examinations. It is expected that about £6 million in fees will be collected in respect of the 1995 exminations but the cost of running the examinations will come to about £13 million. I should point out that my Department operates a number of measures in order to alleviate hardship arising from the payment of examination entry fees.
In the case of necessitious pupils, the ordinary fee payable may be reduced at the discretion of the school principal and subject to a maximum notified to each school or vocational education committee by my Department. My Department has made £400,000 available to schools and vocational education committees for this purpose in connection with the 1995 examinations. This amount is greater than the amount allocated in 1994 by 1.5 per cent, the estimated increase in candidature. There has been no increase in the rates of examination entry fees since 1994.
£44 to £18 |
for one subject, |
£88 to £33 |
for two subjects. |
£132 to £44 |
for three or more subjects. |