Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

639. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the ancillary grant of €163 per pupil to €171.50 per pupil. [15615/20]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The current standard rate of Ancillary Grant is €171.00 per pupil. The estimated full year cost of increasing the rate of ancillary grant to €171.50 per pupil in primary schools is circa €0.3m.

The Ancillary Services grant was increased by €24 from 2016 to 2020, in order to enable primary schools to implement the arbitration salary increase for grant funded school secretaries and caretakers and to also implement the restoration of salary for cleaners arising from the unwinding of FEMPI legislation.

The two main grants are the Capitation grant to cater for day to day running costs such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance, general up-keep etc. and the Ancillary Services grant to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff.  Schools are permitted to regard the capitation and ancillary grants as a combined grant. It is a matter for each individual school to decide how best to apply the grant funding to suit its particular needs.