Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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212. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form the cost of inspections of educational institutions during 2012 and 2013. [19598/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Since the Inspectorate is part of the Department of Education and Skills, all costs associated with its work are paid from the administrative budget of the Department and costs exclusively associated with the inspection of individual educational institutions are not recorded separately from the other inspection or policy development work of the Inspectorate.

The total salary costs of the Inspectorate were €10.64 million in 2012 and €10.91 million in 2013. The inspectorate had 124 inspectors on staff at the end of 2012 and 123 inspectors at the end of 2013. The average salary cost of each inspector across 2012 and 2013 was approximately €87,000. The travel and subsistence costs for the Inspectorate were €0.84 million in 2012 and €0.85 million in 2013.

The daily unit cost of inspection can be estimated on the basis of a per diem proportion of the average annual salary cost of an inspector. For 2012 and 2013 the per diem rate is estimated at €397 for each inspector day. The following table provides an estimate of the average cost of each of the main types of inspection employed by the Inspectorate in 2012 and 2013 based on the per diem rate of €397. Travel and subsistence costs are not included as these vary depending on school location.

Average cost of each of the main types of inspection in 2012 and 2013