Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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214. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason for the discrepancy of 72 cent per pupil per day in the capitation grant rate for primary school students at a mainstream rate of €183 per year and voluntary secondary school students at a rate of €316 per year; if she intends to remedy this discrepancy in budget 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47319/22]

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 also receive a range of other grants including Book Grants, Programme grants etc.

It is difficult to make precise comparisons between the levels of grants paid and the actual costs of running schools at primary and post-primary level.

In general, post-primary schools are larger than primary schools. They have specialist rooms such as laboratories, workshops etc. This leads to higher unit costs for heat, light, power, maintenance and cleaning.