Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 496: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the policy regarding the use of outdoor facilities and outdoor centres and the success rate in terms of uptake; if there are plans to introduce a subsidised scheme to facilitate young people from disadvantaged backgrounds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30773/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Outdoor Education Centres (OECs) have been developed by Vocational Education Committees in order to enhance the quality of the educational experience for young people through outdoor education programmes. OECs cater mainly for primary and post-primary students, including young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. They also cater for third-level students, youth groups, special needs groups and adults. During periods such as school holidays, when the centres are not fully utilised for educational purposes, the centres generate additional income by providing courses on a commercial basis for the leisure and tourism market.

There are currently 9 recognised centres and 3 unrecognised centres. Funding was originally approved on the basis that the centres would be self-financing. Accordingly, my Department's annual grants are contributory in nature and go mainly towards the core staffing costs involved in running the centres. The funding provided by my Department has increased considerably in recent years, and for 2007 was €2.116m.

The Deputy will be aware that extra financial supports are being provided to schools under the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) action plan for educational inclusion. In the last school year, DEIS related grants totalling more than €17 million were paid to schools to meet the needs of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. This represented a substantial increase on the 05/06 level of almost €12 million.

The Government will continue to prioritise the needs of schools serving disadvantaged communities going forward. The emphasis on tackling educational disadvantage in recent years is absolutely unprecedented. In 2007, we are investing nearly €730 million in measures aimed at tackling disadvantage at all levels. This represents an increase of nearly €95 million on the 2006 figure and an almost 60% increase on the €460 million provided in 2003. I have no plans to introduce a subsidised scheme as suggested by the Deputy.

The information on uptake requested by the Deputy is not available as my Department does not obtain data on the attendance rates in the centres from the VECs.