Vol. 465 No. 8
73 Mr. S. Brennan asked the Minister for Education if her attention has been drawn to cases where public examination fees are subsidised by a charitable organisation; the discretion, if any, available to school principals in cases of difficulty; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10649/96]
My Department operates a number of measures aimed at alleviating hardship arising from the payment of examination entry fees. A provision of £500,000 has been made available to schools in order that entry fees for the 1996 exams may be waived or reduced in the case of those experiencing financial hardship.
School authorities are advised that, for the purposes of the scheme, a necessitous pupil may be defined as a child from a home where genuine hardship exists because of: unemployment; prolonged illness of parent; large family with inadequate means; single parent; more than one child doing the certificate examinations or other circumstances which would denote a similar degree of domestic financial hardship.
An additional provision of £600,000 for reduced fees in the case of candidates who are repeating the leaving certificate has also been made available. These candidates would normally be required to pay a higher fee than first time candidates but where the candidate, parent or guardian holds a medical card, the maximum fee payable is the fee payable by first time candidates.
I am very much aware of the concern of charitable societies regarding the possible impact of exam fees on low income families. Indeed, taking account of these concerns, I decided to increase the fee alleviation available to schools by 25 per cent for the 1996 examinations. It is my intention to continue to improve provision in this area on an ongoing well targeted basis and as resources become available to me.
