Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

The funding arrangements for our schools, including the arrangements made for insurance cover, have evolved in a manner that reflects the different traditions and structures of the voluntary secondary, comprehensive and community and VEC sectors. By its nature, this evolution has generated funding anomalies and structures that lack uniformity and cohesion. In the case of voluntary secondary schools, which are privately owned, responsibility for obtaining insurance cover on school property and against public liability is a matter for the managerial authorities of the individual schools. The only circumstances, therefore, in which the Department would take specific responsibility for the insurance is where ownership is transferred to the Department.

The Minister and his predecessor have already shown their commitment by the introduction of enhanced equalisation funding measures for voluntary secondary schools. In addition to the per capita grant of €25 that was introduced under the school services support initiative for second level schools in September 2000, and which now stands at €99, secondary schools have benefited from a further increase of €28, bringing the grant for such schools to €127 since January. From €25 to €127 in a few short years is unbelievable progress.

This per capita grant was in addition to a range of equalisation grants of up to €15,500 per school per annum that were also approved for voluntary secondary schools. For a school with 500 pupils, this amounts to additional equalisation funding of almost €30,000 per annum and overall additional support services funding of approximately €80,000 per annum.

A further measure of the Minister's continuing commitment in this regard is his announcement in the context of the 2004 Estimates that the support services grant of €127 per pupil is being further increased in the case of voluntary secondary schools to €131, a per capita increase of €4. This increase is in addition to the increase that the Minister also announced for 2004 that will bring the standard per capita grant to €274.

A measure of the increase in overall funding for secondary schools is that since 1997, a secondary school with 500 pupils will receive extra annual funding of up to €105,000 per annum and annual grants of up to €240,000, or €260,000 in the case of disadvantaged schools, towards general expenses and support services. Schools are afforded considerable flexibility in the use of these resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. This is preferable to putting in place grants for specific initiatives.

Tackling the difficulties that are being caused by high insurance premiums is a clear priority for the Government and for my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. A key concern to which the Minister is giving priority is the cost and availability of liability insurance. I spent a number of years dealing with that myself. I set up the Motor Insurance Advisory Board, which made 67 recommendations to the Government that are now being implemented by the Minister.

In this context, the Minister has announced a comprehensive programme for the fundamental reform of the Irish insurance market. The Government considers that these measures constitute a programme that is capable of delivering real reform and that reductions in insurance costs will translate into significant reductions in premiums.

The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Dempsey, is conscious of the concerns relating to insurance costs raised by the managerial authorities for voluntary secondary schools. He is committed to improving further the funding position of schools and to addressing the issue of equity raised by the voluntary secondary school sector. At a time of increased financial constraints, the recent announcement of further significant increases in the funding of voluntary secondary schools is a clear demonstration of both the Minister's and the Government's commitment to prioritising available resources to address the needs of schools. Tá mé ag súil go bhfuil an Seanadóir sásta leis an bhfreagra sin. Beimid ag plé leis sa reachtaíocht atá le theacht faoi chúrsaí árachais ar fud na tíre.