Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister's answer but since budget 2011, there has been, in total, a 5% cut in capitation grants to primary schools, which has had a negative impact. I support the call not only for that cut to be reversed but also to bring the primary capitation grant up to the secondary school level, as the INTO has sought.

We should also be examining a capitation grant system to ensure that old, inefficient, pre-fab schools can be replaced. Such schools have to make do with the same capitation grant levels as brand new ones. As the Minister knows, new schools are more cost-efficient in lighting and heating. They are built to new standards, yet the same capitation grant applies to a 200-year-old school where the heat is going out the windows.

Due to cuts to capitation grants and to the summer works scheme over the years, these schools have had to make do with lower payments. In recent times, therefore, they have been finding it even more difficult to stretch the available funds.

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