Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I shall return to the points raised by Deputy Jonathan O'Brien. The sum of €77 million is additional moneys that I must find. Any changes that we make in the education budget in December will have an impact in September 2013 and for the following academic year. If a reduction is made by savings, we can only collect one third of it in 2013. Any changes I make in December will provide one third of the savings over the December 2012 to September 2013 period and two thirds thereafter. It lowers the burden in one sense. The amount of savings, in some cases, is only one third and I hope that the Deputy can see the obvious reason for that.

The impact a reduction in capitation grant has on schools is uneven. In many cases we do not know what schools have. We have been told that some schools have savings. Other schools virtually live from hand to mouth and the Deputy's description is an indication of that. We are trying to assist schools in terms of public procurement where together they can receive discounts by virtue of their purchasing power, and we will explore further options. We have already introduced facilities to allow the joint purchase of electricity. As each school is a stand-alone island at the moment. one depends on the co-operation of management bodies. As many as 92% of the schools come under the remit of the Catholic Primary School Management Association. We are trying to encourage the schools to use their combined purchasing power to reduce some of their costs and that is the direction we are taking. Obviously, the issue of toiletries referred to is not the same as savings on electricity costs. In the future I would see the new education and training boards as having a role at regional level. There will be 16 boards across the country and they will play a role in facilitating cost-cutting for schools in their area. For example, there could be 200 or 300 primary schools in a local education and training board area. The schools could combine administratively and use their collective purchasing power to secure discounts to offset some of the impact - but not all of the impact - of a reduction in capitation grants.

With regard to the book lending scheme, we have a code of practice but I am not sure if members have the details. We have a commitment from the publishers that they will not arbitrarily change the texts of some of the books for a new edition and they will keep books in print for a period to reduce the cost of school books at primary and second levels.