Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 541: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the huge disparity in funding for a school patron's curriculum as provided to Catholic and Protestant patron bodies compared with Educate Together; her views on the proposal for service level agreements from Educate Together; her further views on whether school patron bodies should receive State aid in proportion to their activity in opening schools which are recognised by her Department; the funding which is provided to the Gaelscoil movement; the reason similar funding is not provided to Educate Together; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33893/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not fund patron bodies. My Department does, however, fund management bodies at primary level.

The level of funding that my Department provides to Educate Together as a school management body is on a par with that provided to Foras Patrúnachta na Scoileanna LánGhaeilge, the Church of Ireland Board of Education, the Islamic Board of Education and the National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education. However, following discussions with Educate Together, my Department provided additional funding to it in 2005 to meet the immediate issues of concern to that body. The amount provided in 2005 was €81,133. I have indicated to Educate Together that I will consider its application for additional funding in the context of the Estimates and I will advise it of my decision in due course.

In accordance with the provisions of the Education Act 1998, I, as Minister, am obliged to have regard to the need to reflect the diversity of educational services provided in the State. Applying that provision to the development of multi-denominational education at primary level, my Department has supported the establishment of a significant number of new multi-denominational schools in recent years. Of the 24 new schools granted provisional recognition in the past three years alone, 12 are multi-denominational. At post-primary level, the requirement for multi-denominational education is met by the State sector through non-designated vocational education committee schools.

To underpin the establishment of new schools, my Department has made several changes in recent years which have assisted patron bodies in the provision of accommodation. One of those, which was strongly welcomed by the patron body for multi-denominational schools, was the abolition of the local contribution to the building costs for State-owned school buildings, which had cost up to €63,000 per school. Other innovations include the development of the design-and-build model to provide permanent accommodation much faster, such as in the case of the new multi-denominational school in Griffeen Valley, Lucan, which was designed and built in less than 13 months.

Many multi-denominational primary schools are established in areas of rapidly expanding population growth. School building projects in those areas are assigned a band 1 rating under the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. That is the highest band rating possible, which results in the delivery of permanent accommodation in the shortest timeframe achievable.

Those measures are a strong indication of my Department's commitment to supporting an educational diversity agenda, including multi-denominational education provision. It will continue to do so as part of its own statutory obligations and in the context of the national development plan, which is structured to support the development of all educational sectors, regardless of ethos.