Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 237: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the grants paid to primary schools for secretaries and cleaners has been cut back; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7411/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm to the Deputy that there has been no reduction in the allocation provided in the Book of Estimates. In fact the allocation provides for the expected increase in enrolments at primary level. The amount of grant paid to an individual primary school for ancillary services is determined by the school's enrolment, subject to a minimum grant in respect of schools with enrolments up to 60 and a maximum grant in the case of schools with enrolments of 500 or more.

The standard rate of grant is €155 per pupil per annum. The minimum grant, therefore, is €9,300, while the maximum grant amounts to €77,500. The grant is intended to assist those schools that have not been provided with secretarial or caretaking assistance under the 1978/1979 schemes, under which certain schools receive the benefit of a full-time secretary or caretaker whose salary is fully funded by my Department. Secretaries and caretakers employed under this scheme have received a pay reduction, with effect from 1 January 2010, in accordance with the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No. 2) Act 2009.

The Deputy may wish to note that Circular 40/2009 clarifies issues relating to the allocation of funding for primary schools. The circular states that capitation funding provided for general running costs and funding provided for caretaking and secretarial services may be regarded as a common grant from which the Board of Management can allocate according to its own priorities. In due course, both grant schemes will be merged. In the interim, both grants will continue to be paid according to existing timelines and calculated separately as heretofore.

I have consistently said that it is my intention to streamline and rationalise the different grant schemes that provide funding to primary schools. This will ensure that school management has greater autonomy over how funding is allocated.