Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is a recognition that there are basic operational costs, for which capitation grants are presumed to provide. These include general electricity, water and other things. The minimum size of the school for the purpose of the capitation grant is 60 pupils in notional terms. From memory, there are some 25 schools with 19 schools pupils and the capitation grant they receive is the same as that of a school with 60 pupils because of the minimum floor threshold. That is the only variation within the capitation allocation. While some principals and boards of management talk about the cost of running a school, we have not gone beyond that. There are no proposals currently. If boards of management in the primary school system were to come forward with ways in which we could, in these difficult times, more efficiently meet costs generally, then we are open to it. The summer works scheme and the other schemes to which the Deputy referred are deemed to be one-off projects for maintenance and early intervention to avoid capital replacement costs later, but they are not seen as current account operating costs.