Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 June 2005
540 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the funding crisis facing the Educate Together national office which may be forced to scale down its activities from July 2005 if a resolution is not secured by that date; if she will report on her meeting with Educate Together on this issue; and if she will make a realistic offer of funding to enable the ongoing work continue. [20991/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is currently engaged in discussions with Educate Together in regard to annual funding. The provision of some additional funding in 2005, to meet the immediate issues of concern to Educate Together, is under discussion along with their longer term needs. The current level of funding that my Department provides to Educate Together as a school management body is on a par with that provided to Foras Patrunachta na Gaelscoileanna, the Church of Ireland Board of Education, the Islamic Board of Education and the National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education.
In regard to support for the establishment of new multi-denominational schools, it should be noted that my Department has supported the establishment of many new Educate Together schools in recent years. Of the 24 new schools granted provisional recognition in the past three years, 12 of them are under Educate Together patronage. My Department has made a number of changes in recent years which have made the provision of accommodation for new schools much easier. One of these changes, which was strongly welcomed by Educate Together, was the abolition of the local contribution to the building costs for state-owned school buildings, which had cost up to €63,500 per school. Other innovations include the development of the design and build model to provide permanent accommodation much faster, such as in the case of the new Educate Together school in Griffeen Valley, Lucan, which was designed and built in under 13 months.
