Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason funding for the homework club in a school (details supplied) in County Limerick has recently been reduced. [38458/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school which the Deputy refers received funding in respect of their homework club under the Fund for the Development of Targeted Educational Responses to Certain Children at Risk in 2005.

The school is now participating in Band 1 of the School Support Programme under DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), the action plan for educational inclusion and now has access to:

Early Childhood Education provision

reduced class sizes of 20:1 in junior classes and 24:1 in senior classes — administrative Principal on lower enrolment and staffing figures than apply in primary schools generally

additional non-pay/capitation allocation based on level of disadvantage

additional funding under School Books Grant Scheme

access to Schools Meals Programme

access to Home School Community Liaison services

access to School Completion Programme services

access to literacy/numeracy support service to specific literacy/numeracy measures

access to transfer programmes from primary to second level

access to planning supports

access to a range of professional development supports

eligibility for teachers/principals to apply for sabbatical leave.

After-school activities are delivered as part of the School Completion Programme and homework clubs in particular are a widely implemented support to provide students with a structured environment to complete homework.