Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if and when, in relation to her reply to Parliamentary Question No. 110 of 2 October, 2007, and in particular in relation to the fact that she does not intend to provide State funding for any new fee-paying schools, she proposes to give effect to that intention, under section 12 of the Education Act 1998, by determining and publishing under that section, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance, criteria by which classes of recognised schools are to be funded in the following school year from moneys provided by the Oireachtas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24543/07]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 199: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the existing determined and published criteria, under section 12 of the Education Act 1998, by which a class or classes of recognised schools are to be funded in the following school year from moneys provided by the Oireachtas in relation to her reply to Parliamentary Question No. 110 of 2 October 2007, and in particular in relation to the fact that she does not intend to provide State funding for any new fee paying schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24544/07]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 200: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in relation to her reply to Parliamentary Question No. 110 of 2 October 2007, and in particular in relation to her statements to the effect that the differentiation between fee-paying and non fee-paying secondary schools arises essentially from the arrangements put in place when free second level education was introduced and those arrangements took account specifically of the position of minority religions with dispersed membership, through the creation of the Protestant block grant, she is satisfied that the maintenance of the Protestant block grant, under the provisions of section 12 of the Education Act 1998 is compatible with the requirements of Article 44.2.4° of the Constitution to the effect that legislation providing State aid for schools shall not discriminate between schools under the management of different religious denominations; the arrangements that exist for the funding of Protestant schools, to the extent that they differ from arrangements for Roman Catholic schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24545/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 to 200, inclusive, together.

The funding arrangements for existing recognised schools and the terms governing those arrangements are set out in Department circulars and notices including the arrangements for the payment of additional monies to schools having regard to the level of educational disadvantage of students in schools. These arrangements carry from year to year and amendments, which generally involve improvements to those funding arrangements, are published in the context of the estimates and budgetary process as agreed with the Minister for Finance.

In relation to any request that might be received in the context of Section 8 of the Education Act, 1998 from an intending patron to establish a new recognised second level school, I have in my answer to Question 110 of 2 October 2007 stated that recognition will not be granted for a school that proposes to charge fees.

There are currently 56 fee-charging second level schools in the country, of which 21 are Protestant, 2 Inter-denominational, one Jewish and the remainder Catholic. Fee-charging schools, with the exception of the Protestant and Jewish fee-charging schools for which special arrangements apply, do not receive capitation or related supports. A payment is made to the Central Protestant Churches authority — the Secondary Education Committee — of a grant (the Protestant Block Grant) for distribution among needier Protestant students to enable them to meet the cost of attending Protestant schools. The grant is calculated by reference to the number of pupils in Protestant schools, on a broadly similar basis to the per capita grant payable to schools in the Free Education Scheme. Applications for assistance are made to the Committee by parents which on the basis of a means test distributes the funds by individual schools on the basis of pupil needs. In addition, Protestant fee-charging schools are eligible for payment of such grants as the transition year support grant, the secretarial grant and caretaking grant.

Minority religion schools also receive capital funding for building projects and have done so under successive Governments on the same basis as other secondary schools, while approximately 50% of capital costs for Catholic fee-charging schools building projects are met by the State. However, school building projects, whether for fee charging schools or schools in the free education sector, are selected for inclusion in the Schools' Building and Modernisation Programme on the basis of priority of need. In that regard the Deputy should note that the proportion of the school building programme spent in fee-charging schools in recent years has been extremely small.

As with all public expenditure measures I will keep the funding arrangements for the schools concerned under review to ensure that they remain consistent with their original policy basis. If these arrangements were subjected to legal challenge and it was determined that the Protestant block grant offends the Constitution, clearly I would have to cease payment of the grant.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on whether a constitutional requirement, in Article 44.2.4° of the Constitution, to the effect that legislation providing State aid for schools shall not be such as to affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending religious instruction at that school, is compatible with admission policies in schools receiving public moneys that admit persons of certain religious denominations in preference to others or refuse to admit as a student a person who is not of that denomination on the grounds that the refusal is essential to maintain the ethos of the school; if she is undertaking a review of the difficulties that inevitably arise in this area; the arguments she has received and considered in relation to the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24546/07]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her meetings with the stakeholders in primary and secondary education dealing with the constitutional, legal and administrative framework within which primary and secondary education services are delivered in the State, with particular reference to the role of religious denominations in the delivery of those services and the availability of public funding for schools with discriminatory admission policies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24547/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 201 and 202 together.

Schools receiving State aid, including denominational schools, take into account the wishes of parents in relation to the religious education of their children, including the wishes of parents who may not want to have their children follow any programme of religious education and this is provided for in Section 30 of the 1998 Education Act. As the Deputy will be aware, the vast majority of our primary schools were set up by religious authorities, in the main by the Catholic Church. However, they have historically welcomed pupils from all backgrounds and continue to do so. In fact, many Catholic schools now have large numbers of newcomer children with a diversity of faiths enrolled.

In order to provide greater choice and to cater for the requirements of an increasingly pluralist society, my Department is developing a new model of primary school patronage which will cater for the diversity of religious faiths represented in growing urban areas. It is also intended to cater for the wishes of parents who do not wish to have their children follow a programme of religious instruction. This new model of community primary school will be piloted next year in Dublin under the patronage of Co. Dublin VEC. Consultations have taken place with all of the education partners in the context of the development of this new model of patronage and many of the issues mentioned by the Deputy have arisen in the course of these consultations.

I accept that providing sufficient pupil places in all rapidly developing areas, including those with large immigrant communities, is absolutely vital to ensuring that enrolment policies do not lead to the exclusion of any child on religious or ethnic grounds and to this end, the Government is committed to substantially increasing the level of school accommodation in rapidly developing areas under the €4.5 billion school building programme included in the National Development Plan. The Government is also committed to integration as set out in the National Action Plan against Racism and it is the policy of my Department to ensure there is no discrimination in the provision of education in this country.