28th January 2010 Water Charges may cripple under-funded schools
- Last Updated: Thursday, 28 January 2010 12:01
The introduction of metered water charges from January 1st of this year will place huge pressure on cash strapped school Boards of Management, resulting in greater pressure on parents through increased fundraising and voluntary contributions.
In his address to 1,000 school Principals at the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals' Network (IPPN), Mr Seán Cottrell, National Director of IPPN, states 'the dependence on parents to pay for basic operating costs added to the doubling of the cost of water overnight is an indication that the Celtic Tiger never went to school'. While recognising that water is a valuable resource and must be paid for, this should be done on the basis of a departmental transfer of funds between Education and Environment, and not levied directly on schools.
Based on usage of 3 cubic metres per child, a school of 250 pupils could see its cost rise from €1,000 to over €2,000. This additional expense comes despite a recent IPPN survey revealing that the average 100-pupil school operates a deficit of over €23k per annum.
An additional problem that schools have encountered is that Local Authority water charges vary from county to county and some schools, depending on their location, have to pay more. For instance, water usage costs almost 40% more in Wicklow than in neighbouring Kildare.
Water conservation is the key to reducing costs for schools and, with proper support and resourcing from government, a target of limiting usage to 2 cubic metres per child could be achieved.
ENDS
A transitional arrangement whereby schools paid for water at the rate of €4 per pupil was replaced at the beginning of the year by a system of metered water charges which could double the cost to schools.
