Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 18 Oct 2000

Vol. 524 No. 3

Written Answers. - Secretarial and Caretaking Services.

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

194 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will outline, in regard to secondary schools for the current year or the most recent year for which figures are available, the level of support and the criteria for payment of grants for school secretaries and caretakers, the number of schools benefiting, the total number of caretakers and secretaries employed under each such scheme and the total cost of each such scheme. [22541/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

My Department provides funding towards the cost of secretarial services in secondary schools under two separate schemes. One scheme is the 1978 scheme for the employment of school secretaries in the larger schools, under which my Department meets the full cost of salary. In 1999, the cost of the posts in the 184 schools concerned (one post per school) amounted to £3.089 million.

The 1978 scheme has been superseded under the PESP agreement of 1992 by a scheme that provides grants, to a maximum of £10,500 per school, towards the costs of secretarial services in secondary schools with 200 or more pupils, other than those in the 1978 scheme. In addition, all secondary schools with 200 or more pupils receive financial assistance, to a maximum of £8,750 per school, towards the costs of caretaking services under the PESP scheme. The details requested by the Deputy for 1999 are as follows:

Grant Type	No of Schools	Rate Per pupil	Total CostOf Grant
Secretary	195	£30	£1.9m
Caretaker	372	£25	£3.06m