asked the Minister for Education if he will state in respect of the past decade the total capital grants allocated to the secondary and vocational school sectors.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - School Capital Grants.
30.
Payment of grants for secondary school building commenced in 1966.
The total amount paid to secondary schools by way of building grant in the period 1966-67—1970-71 was £11 million.
The total capital expenditure on vocational schools in the period 1961-62 to 1970-71 was £14 million.
Would the Minister agree that the increases in the past three years under this heading of capital grants for education have been so small that in real terms, allowing for changes in the purchasing power of money, there has been no increase in investment, and would he say why the Government have chosen the past three years to freeze the volume—and I emphasise "volume"—of educational investment?
I do not know what the Deputy is talking about, but what I do know is what I have stated here often in the House before, that when the Coalition left office they were spending £15 million on education and we are now spending £84 million.
What I asked the Minister was why the Government have chosen to freeze the volume of educational investment at the level it reached three years ago. It was, we readily accept, at a significantly higher level than at any earlier time, but why has it been frozen for three years? Would the Minister answer that straight question?
The Government are doing exceptionally well in relation to both types of post-primary school building.
Freezing is doing exceptionally well.
"Freezing" is the Deputy's own word.