Brian O'Shea
Ceist:178 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science the proposals he has to address the concerns of a secondary school (details supplied) in County Waterford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28140/03]
Written Answers. - Insurance Costs.
Paudge Connolly
Ceist:190 Mr. Connolly asked the Minister for Education and Science the rationale behind the inequality in school funding whereby a college (details supplied) is required to pay an insurance bill of ?27,331.02 from its annual budget while its VEC community college and community school counterparts in the post-primary area are not so required; his plans to address this anomaly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28216/03]
Eamon Gilmore
Ceist:209 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a school (details supplied) in County Dublin has had its insurance cost increased by over 100% since 2001; the consideration he has given to the rising cost of insurance for schools; the action he intends to take on the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28373/03]
Seymour Crawford
Ceist:213 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will meet the insurance costs for a school (details supplied) in County Monaghan in the same way as he funds the cost of insurance charges for community and vocational schools; his views on whether this is fair that schools should be treated differently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28470/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 178, 190, 209 and 213 together.
Voluntary secondary schools in Counties Dublin, Monaghan and Waterford are funded on the same basis as secondary schools throughout the country. The funding arrangements for voluntary secondary schools is structured mainly on the basis of capitation grants with additional grants for secretarial and caretaking services.
There have been significant improvements in the level of funding for voluntary secondary schools. In the context of the 2004 Estimates, I recently announced a further improvement in theper capitagrant to €274 per pupil as against the rate of €224.74 that applied in 1997. This increase will bring the grant to €312 in the case of disadvantaged schools.
In addition, secondary schools have benefited under the school services support initiative. The initial grant of €25 per pupil that was introduced for second level schools in September 2000 was increased to €89 per pupil from September 2002 and was further increased by €10 per pupil from January last to €99 per pupil. In the case of voluntary secondary schools, the grant was increased by a further €28 to €117 in September 2002 bringing the support services grant in the case of such schools to €127 per pupil from January last. In the context of the 2004 Estimates, the grant will be further increased to €131 per pupil. This increase is in addition to the range of equalisation grants of up to €15,554 per school, €44.44 per pupil, per annum that have also been approved for voluntary secondary schools.
For a secondary school with 500 pupils, this amounts to extra funding of up to €105,684 per annum and annual grants of €242,501, €261,551 in the case of disadvantaged schools, towards general expenses and support services. Schools are afforded considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. This is, in general, a preferable approach to putting in place grants for specific initiatives, including those referred to by the Deputies.
Tackling the difficulties that are being caused by high insurance premiums is a clear priority for the Government and for my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. A key concern to which the Tánaiste is giving priority is the cost and availability of liability insurance. In this context, the Tánaiste has announced a comprehensive programme for the fundamental reform of the Irish insurance market. The Government considers that these measures constitute a programme that is capable of delivering very real reform and that reductions in insurance costs will translate into significant reductions in premiums. I am committed to improving further the funding position of voluntary secondary schools in the light of available resources.