Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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190. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a statutory instrument has been put in place in respect of the Protestant block grant, which has a fund of approximately €6.5 million per year and which was established in 1966 as a scheme of assistance for Protestant students receiving post-primary education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42052/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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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 €6.75 million annually. This fund ensures that necessitous Protestant children can attend a school of their choice.

These arrangements in relation to the Protestant Block Grant are underpinned by way of a Memorandum of Understanding as distinct from a Statutory Instrument. The Memorandum of Understanding is agreed between the Department and the Secondary Education Committee and was last updated in April 2015.