Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

That is not an up-to-date document.

Progress in recent years has seen the primary school capitation grant increased from €95.87 per pupil in 2001 to its current rate of €178.58. That represents an increase of 86% in the standard rate of capitation grant since 2001. That compares to a cumulative increase of 30% in the consumer price index between 2001 and the end of 2007.

The value of the ancillary services grant for the employment of caretakers and secretaries in schools has almost doubled in the same period, from €76.18 to the current rate of €151.50 per pupil. In 2008, my Department paid approximately €167 million to primary schools to meet their day-to-day running costs. The improvements in the capitation and ancillary grants mean the combined day-to-day funding for primary schools has increased this year by €21 to €330 per pupil. In 2001, a primary school with 300 pupils was in receipt of less than €52,000 to meet its day-to-day running costs. That same school today is receiving just under €100,000.