Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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99. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of a 10% increase in the ancillary services grant for primary and special schools; the costings broken down to cover the cost from 1 September 2023 to 31 December 2023 and for the period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. [23613/22]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides funding to recognised Primary and Post-Primary schools in the free education scheme by way of per capita grants. 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/School Services Support Fund (SSSF) to cater for the cost of employing ancillary services staff.

Schools are permitted to regard the capitation and ancillary/SSSF 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.

The current standard rate of Ancillary Grant is €173.00 per pupil.

The estimated full year cost in 2024 of increasing the ancillary grant by 10% per pupil in primary schools is circa €9.4m. The estimated cost for the period 1^stSeptember to 31^stDecember, 2023 would be €3.2m.

The Ancillary Services grant was increased by €26 from 2016 to 2021, 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.