Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her Department offers grant support to non-profit making groups and organisations that provide extra curricular educational opportunities in a school context, at no cost, in areas such as music, science and so on; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that some very good work is being done by such organisations, at the invitation of schools but that they have great difficulty in sourcing funding for their work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5730/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not provide funding for groups such as those referred to by the Deputy. Schools have considerable discretion as to how the funding allocated by my Department should be best utilised in the interests of their students. Should a school accord sufficient priority to a particular extracurricular activity, then the school would be free to engage with the group concerned in this regard.

Voluntary contributions by parents of pupils in recognised schools are permissible, provided it is made absolutely clear to parents that there is no question of compulsion to pay and that, in making a contribution, they are doing so of their own volition. The manner in which such voluntary contributions are sought and collected is a matter for school management, however, their collection should be such as not to create a situation where either parents or pupils could reasonably infer that the contributions take on a compulsory character.