Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 107: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will enter into negotiations with the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to see if it is possible to establish an agreed countrywide regime for local authority levies for schools in the free education scheme that would result in schools being treated as non-commercial premises and thereby have their operational costs reduced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33428/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware of the commitment in the Programme for Government to examine how local authorities might grant allow schools a reasonable level of usage of water and waste services without charge, and that charges would only apply when a school exceeded the allowance. The Deputy will appreciate that it is a primarily a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to determine precisely how this commitment will be implemented.

A key consideration from my perspective is to ensure that any proposed scheme ensures that schools are treated consistently across the country. My Department will of course input to and support the examination to be conducted by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.