Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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161. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason his Department caps per-pupil primary school funding at 500 pupils; and the rationale and justification for this. [22751/17]

Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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181. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason his Department caps per-pupil primary school funding at 500 pupils; and the rationale and justification for this. [22951/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 161 and 181 together.

My Department provides capitation funding to all recognised primary schools.

The amount of grant paid to an individual primary school for capitation and ancillary services is determined by the school’s enrolment, subject to a minimum grant for both capitation and ancillary services in respect of schools with enrolments up to 60, and a maximum ancillary services grant in the case of schools with enrolments of 500 or more. There is no maximum limit on the capitation grant.

In 2017, the capitation grant is €170 per pupil and the ancillary services Grant is €158 per pupil. The 500 pupil cap on ancillary grant equates to a maximum grant of €79,000. Within the context of limitations on available resources, this funding of €79,000 is considered a reasonable amount to cater for the secretarial and caretaking needs of a large school.

The Deputy may wish to note that schools have the flexibility to use capitation funding provided for general running costs and ancillary funding provided for caretaking and secretarial services as a common grant which is outlined in Circular 40/2009.