asked the Minister for Education if he is aware of the hardship being caused to social welfare recipients who will be obliged to pay a £15 entrance fee for their children when sitting for the leaving certificate examination in 1982 and £10 for other certificate examinations, including the group certificate; and if he will take steps to have this imposition withdrawn immediately.

23.

asked the Minister for Education if he is aware that the high cost of the entrance fees for examinations is causing great hardship to many parents; and if he will in the interests of social justice take steps to have the matter fully investigated.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 and 23 together.

The level of fees for the certificate examinations in 1982 was decided by the previous Government in December 1980 in connection with their consideration of the Public Estimates for 1981 since these fees are paid and credited to appropriations-in-aid in that year.

I was not disputing the fact that the level of the entry fee was arranged by the last Government. I was asking the Minister would he give a commitment to social welfare recipients and those on lower incomes who are finding it very difficult to meet the high costs of these examination entrance fees for their children. Given that we are supposed to have free post-primary education it is ridiculous that people who get free school books should have to pay——

Would the Deputy please ask a question?

Does the Minister agree that these high entrance fees are causing people great hardship? Will he do something particularly for social welfare recipients, to allow them some way of meeting the burden?

I discovered that I inherited this decision by the previous Government to increase these fees. The additional estimated income from the increase had been included in the Book of Estimates for 1981 although the actual fee increase had not been announced. Subsequently the fee increase had to be announced by me because these application fees are paid during November and December of the year prior to pupils sitting the examinations. Consequently I was then in a position in which this decision had already been taken by our predecessors in office.

I should mention, in relation to the Supplementary Estimate, that an additional sum of £849,000 was necessary to meet, amongst other things, the cost of the recent arbitrator's award to examiners and superintendents of public examinations during 1981.

Would the Minister not agree that, in view of the very severe hardship imposed by direct Government action in the July budget — increasing the CPI by 5 per cent — there might be a case for reconsidering these fees in the case of social welfare recipients?

I am very conscious of the effect of the various fees on social welfare recipients and people in disadvantaged areas. However, I think the question in relation to waiving the fees, which were increased by 42 per cent by my predecessor and his colleagues in Government last December, comes ill from him. If there is any way in which a scheme can be introduced——

The budget came in between, my question related to that.

The level of those fees, which have been paid in the course of the past few weeks by those people who are to sit for public examinations in the summer of 1982, was decided on by the Government of the day on 22 December 1980.

The remaining questions will appear on tomorrow's Order Paper.