Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Schools receive funding by way of per capita grants to meet their day-to-day running costs and enable them to pay for services such as light, heat, water and waste disposal. The value of the capitation grants have improved significantly over the past few years and are set to increase again by €15 per pupil in 2008.

As the Deputy will be aware, the water framework directive requires that the "polluter pays" principle be applied to the provision of water and waste services to all non-domestic users. I am concerned about the considerable variance in the rates being applied by different councils, which has left some schools with significant bills.

As the Deputy may be aware, the programme for Government contains a commitment to examine the provision of waste and water allowances to schools, with charges becoming effective after these are exceeded. The implementation of this commitment is primarily a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. My Department will have an input to and support the examination to be conducted by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and I have already discussed the issue with the Minister.

In the meantime, we are anxious to enable schools to conserve water and keep their bills as low as possible. New school buildings are being designed with that goal in mind and measures such as the use of low-pressure spray taps on wash hand basins, dual flushing units on toilets and push button type shower controls are generally used. These will be of major benefit to the users of new buildings and resources have also been made available to assist those in existing facilities in considerably reducing their water bills.

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