Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 510: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will assist schools (details supplied) on capitation grant, high insurance costs, special needs education, class size and the urgent need to fund these schools adequately. [38482/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There have been significant improvements in recent years in the level of funding for voluntary secondary schools, including the schools referred to by the Deputy. In addition to the €12 per pupil increase in 2006 in the standard per capita grant that now stands at €298 per pupil, voluntary secondary schools have benefited additionally by the increase of €14 per pupil in 2006 in the support services grant bringing the overall grant to €159 per pupil.

I wish to draw the attention of the Deputy to my announcement of further significant increases in the context of the 2007 estimates. From 1 January next the standard per capita grant will be increased by a further €18 to €316 per pupil. In addition, the support services grant will be increased by a further €30 for voluntary secondary schools, which includes a further equalisation measure, to €189 per pupil. For such schools this cumulative increase of €48 per pupil will bring the aggregate grant to over €500 per pupil from 1 January next. These grants are in addition to the per capita funding of up to €40,000 per school that is also provided by my Department to secondary schools towards secretarial and caretaking services.

For a secondary school with 500 pupils, this will bring annual grants towards general expenses and support service to over €290,000. Schools are afforded considerable flexibility in the use of resources to cater for the needs of their pupils. This is in my view, in general, a preferable approach to putting in place grants for specific cost items, including those referred to by the Deputy.

Significant improvements have also been made in the staffing of our second level schools in recent years. With the creation of over 2,000 additional posts and the retention of over 2,100 posts which would otherwise have been lost due to the fall in enrolments, there is now one teacher for every 13 students at second level.

There has also been enormous progress in relation to increasing the number of teachers in our schools who are specifically dedicated to providing education for children with special education needs. At second level, approximately 1,854 whole time equivalent additional teachers are in place to support pupils with special educational needs. This compares to the approximately 200 teachers that were in place in 1998 for such pupils. In addition, there are 534 whole time equivalent learning support teachers and approximately 1,365 whole time equivalent special needs assistants in our second level schools.

The provision that I have made, in the context of the 2007 estimates, for these significant increases in the funding of voluntary secondary schools is a clear demonstration of my commitment to prioritise available resources to address the needs of schools.