Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1040: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the fact that a school (details supplied) in Dublin 10 has no full-time secretarial support and that the burden falls therefore on the principal; and when resources will be made available to employ a full-time secretary for the school to ensure that the fullest attention can be given by the teachers and principal to delivering on their educational commitments. [11273/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides funding towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services in primary schools under two separate schemes. One scheme is the 1978-79 scheme for the employment of full-time secretaries and caretakers in primary schools, under which my Department meets the full cost of salary. That scheme is being phased out as posts become vacant, and no new posts are being created. That scheme has been superseded by a more extensive grant scheme now referred to as the ancillary services grant.

The ancillary services grant provides additional funding for primary schools towards the cost of secretarial and caretaking services. The scheme does not provide for the linking of the grants to any particular pay scale and is flexible by nature, giving boards of management discretion as to the manner in which secretarial and caretaking services are provided. The school referred to by the Deputy receives secretarial grant assistance under that scheme.

The amount of grant paid to an individual school is determined by the enrolment in the school, subject to a minimum grant being paid in the case of a school with 60 pupils or less and a maximum grant being paid in the case of a school with 500 or more pupils, and whether the school in question has either caretaking or secretarial services under an existing Department scheme. The standard rate of grant was increased from €102 to €127 per pupil in 2004 and was increased by a further €12 per pupil this year. The rate that applies in the case of a school which already has either caretaking or secretarial services under an existing Department scheme, as is the case of the school referred to by the Deputy, is €66.50 per pupil.

The level and extent of services provided is a matter for the school authorities who, through the discretion afforded by the scheme, apply diverse arrangements for secretarial services as resources permit. As the secretaries are employees of individual schools, my Department does not have any role in determining the pay and conditions under which they are engaged. These are matters to be agreed between the staff concerned and the school authorities. It is a matter for each individual school to decide how best to apply the funding to suit the school's needs.

The question of increasing the rate of the ancillary services grant in the future will be considered in the context of available resources and priorities in the education sector.