Dan Neville (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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267. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills with reference to fee paying schools (details supplied), if he will rethink the proposed increase in pupil teacher ratio in view of the fact that the parents of children attending the school make the point that they are already paying more than 50% of their income and also paying for their children's education which they feel makes more savings to the Exchequer by saving the free school spaces.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25594/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Government has protected front-line services in schools to the greatest extent possible in the recent budget and there will no reduction in teacher numbers in primary schools and in free second level schools for the 2013/14 school year as a result of the recent budget. The DEIS scheme for disadvantaged schools is also fully protected with no overall changes to staffing levels or funding as a result of the budget.However, at a time of severely reduced resources, priorities have to be made. In an effort to ensure fairness in the education system, the PTR in fee charging second level schools will rise by two points to 23:1 in September 2013.

However, these schools have the resources, through fees charged, to employ teachers privately. This is an option which is not available to schools in the free education scheme. A report on the analysis of the tuition income of fee-charging schools carried out by my Department was recently published and shows that the schools in question have €81m in discretionary income that schools in the free scheme do not have. It is important to note that the report does not contain any policy proposals at this stage. However, even after the Budget changes are implemented, the discretionary income available to these schools will still be quite considerable.

I would like to assure the Deputy that this Government recognises the importance of ensuring that students from a Protestant or reformed church background can attend a school that reflects their denominational ethos while at the same time ensuring that funding arrangements are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. With regard to the fee-charging Protestant schools, an arrangement exists whereby funding is provided by my Department to the Secondary Education Committee (SEC), an organisation run by the churches involved in managing the Protestant secondary schools. The SEC then disburses funds to the Protestant fee-charging schools on behalf of pupils who would otherwise have difficulty with the cost of fees and who, in the absence of such financial support, would be unable to attend a second level school of a reformed church or Protestant ethos. Funding amounts to €6.5 million annually. This fund ensures that necessitous Protestant children can attend a school of their choice.