Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 417: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in view of the 20,000 non-fee-paying school places in Dublin; her views on whether people need to be encouraged to use and support the public school system; and the action she is taking in this regard. [7965/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Fee-paying schools are a traditional feature of the post-primary educational system, particularly in Dublin. Fee-charging schools, with the exception of the special arrangements apply in respect of the Protestant and Jewish fee-paying schools, do not receive capitation or related supports. The Protestant and Jewish schools receive funding by way of a block grant, which has its origins in the desire of the State to enable students of the Protestant and Jewish persuasion to attend schools, which reflect their denominational ethos. The block grant includes payments in respect of capitation.

There have been significant improvements in the level of funding for non-fee-paying second level schools. The standard per capita grant now amounts to €286 as against the rate of €224.74 that applied in 1997. This increase will bring the per capita grant in the case of disadvantaged schools to €324 per pupil. In addition, under the school services support fund initiative, secondary schools have benefited from further significant increases in the support grant. This grant which was introduced in September 2000 has been increased from €25 per pupil to the rate of €103 from 1 January 2005.

Funding for voluntary secondary schools has been further enhanced by the introduction of a range of equalisation measures that are designed to reduce the historic anomalies in the funding arrangements for the different school types at second level. Under the terms of recent equalisation measures, the support grant has in the case of voluntary secondary schools been significantly enhanced to €145 per pupil from 1 January 2005. These increases are in addition to the range of equalisation grants of up to €15,554 per school per annum that have also been approved for voluntary secondary schools.

The payment of teachers salaries is part of a complex scheme of funding for fee-charging schools, which has traditionally sought to balance considerations of equity, pragmatism and State support for minority religions. Teachers in fee-charging schools, irrespective of the denominational ethos of the school, are paid by the State. This may well reflect a long-standing pragmatism that the State would be required to provide teachers for the pupils in question were they located within the free education scheme.