John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 557: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the amount of grant aid paid to each fee paying private school by her Department in each of the past five years. [35357/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Fee charging schools, with the exception of the special arrangements that 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 mainly by way of a Block grant, which has its origins in the desire of the State to enable pupils of the Protestant and Jewish persuasion to attend schools, which reflect their denominational ethos. Increased in line with capitation, the Block grant amounts to about €5.5m per annum. In the case of Protestant schools, the grant is paid to the Protestant Secondary Education committee which makes grants to needier Protestant children to enable them to attend school. The distribution of the grant by the Committee is not readily available to my Department. A similar arrangement is applied in the case of the Jewish school. Such schools also receive funding, other than the per capita grant, towards support services such as secretarial and caretaking and miscellaneous grants. Fee charging schools not embraced by the Block grant do not qualify for payment of capitation supports.