Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 461: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if an additional resource teacher will be allocated to a school (details supplied) in Dublin 12 as well as additional funding for a caretaker. [14025/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school referred to by the Deputy has the services of a full-time resource teacher for Traveller pupils. The school has submitted an application for an additional resource teacher post for Traveller pupils in the school. A decision on the application will be conveyed to the school as soon as the application has been considered.

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. This scheme is being phased out as posts become vacant and no new posts are being created. This scheme has been superseded by a more extensive grant scheme now referred to as the ancillary services grant.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 grant assistance towards the provision of secretarial and caretaking services under this scheme.

The amount of grant paid to an individual school is determined by the enrolment in the school. The standard rate of grant was increased from €102 to €127 per pupil in 2004 and was further increased to €133 per pupil this year. Accordingly, the school referred to received €15,162 by way of grant assistance under the ancillary services grant scheme on the basis of the school's enrolments in 2005. My Department has no further funds at its disposal from which additional moneys can be made available to schools towards the cost of secretarial or caretaking services.

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 and caretaking services as resources permit. It is a matter for each school to decide how best to apply the funding to suit its particular needs. The question of increasing the rate of the ancillary services grant in future will be considered in the context of available resources and priorities within the education sector. The school has the services of one permanent resource teacher and a shared learning support teacher, which is 0.8 of a post.