Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the outset I thank the Minister, Deputy Quinn, for coming here today along with the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon. I also thank the officials for the preparatory work put into the briefing documents that have been put before us today. I thank the clerk to the committee for the briefing and assessments done by the secretariat for the Revised Estimate.

There are a few questions in general relating to heading A. The Minister indicated in his opening statement that €5 million is allocated this year for training for the junior certificate reform. What exactly does that encompass? Until last week the plan was for a day's training this year in advance of September for English teachers, and there was nothing planned for whole-school training or buy-in with regard to seminars. I know from last week's working group that it was suggested that one day of training for English teachers is to be expanded to one and a half days of training before September, and there was also a suggestion that schools may take one day for the whole school, with all teachers doing a day of in-service. I presume it will be in a school. What are the cost implications of that and does the €5 million cover it? Will the Minister elaborate on that?

There is a summer works scheme and minor works grant, and the Minister indicated that the minor works grant was paid in November to schools. Was it paid to all schools in November? I presume, if it was, it came from last year's Vote. I am not sure of the exact figure but it was approximately €28 million. Where did the Minister find the €28 million? It is a significant sum, although it may be a small percentage of the overall education budget. It is still not easy to find. Where was the funding sourced, as it was not indicated earlier in the year? It certainly was not in last year's Estimate. I presume it has come from the 2013 budget line. I assume the summer works scheme will come from the current year's Estimate. Where is the Minister finding the additional space in order to be able to pay for the summer works scheme this year? Is there anything in the 2014 Estimate to pay a minor works grant in 2014? With the 2013 Estimate and provisional outturn, the initial estimate for pensions was €1.128 billion but it came in at €26 million less, coming in at €1.102 billion. How did that change come about that led to an underspend in pensions?

Last year, we had a disagreement on resource teaching hours - the Department was going to cut resource teaching allocations. The allocation is currently at 0.85 and the Department was proposing to bring it down to 0.8 of an hour for every hour allocated. Will the Minister assure us the figure will remain at 0.85, and that there is sufficient provision in the Estimate to be able to cater for that? The new residential institutions statutory fund has seen the establishment of a board but it has not yet started to pay out any funds. What is specifically allocated in the Revised Estimate this year for that and how much, if any, is expected to be paid from that fund this year?

Over the course of the past year there has been a couple of schools from the private and fee-paying sector, particularly Kilkenny College and Gormanston College, which have moved to the free scheme sector. The Minister has made very significant cuts to the pupil-teacher ratio for the schools. Will the Minister elaborate on the cost to the Exchequer of those colleges and what the net difference will be to the Exchequer if those colleges join the free scheme sector rather than remain as fee-paying schools?

The Minister has indicated that he plans to bring high-speed broadband to all secondary schools by the end of September. We all agree that we have not yet achieved that goal of all secondary schools having high-speed broadband. Will he give an outline of the current position for broadband in primary schools and what is planned to expand provision for them? The Minister mentioned funding that he is allocating this year for transferring accommodation from prefabs, with €15 million outlined for 2014 for doing away with prefab accommodation and transferring pupils to permanent accommodation. What will be left after that?

After that, how many students will continue to be educated in prefab accommodation? Can the Minister give a figure for the estimated total cost in the coming year for the rental and maintenance of the prefabs that students currently must use?