Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Deenihan for giving me the opportunity of outlining the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding O'Brennan national school, Kielduff, Tralee, County Kerry.

Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task, given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless, since taking office, the Government has shown a focused determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum. As evidence of this commitment, over €540 million will be spent on school building and modernisation projects in the coming year on primary and post-primary schools. Some 1,500 projects of various scales will be undertaken.

O'Brennan national school was one of several schools which the Department approved to progress through architectural planning. However, as the enrolment increased substantially, the long projected enrolment had to be reassessed for this school. The brief for the project was subsequently amended to provide adequate accommodation for a principal, seven classroom teachers and 1.5 learning support and resource teachers. Deputy Deenihan should note that the Department gave the school extra teachers to cope with the extra enrolments. The Department could have waited for the new school building to be completed before appointing the extra teachers. It was felt, however, that it was more important the pupils should benefit from the extra teachers immediately.

The Department's technical team is assessing how best to progress this project and several options are being considered. When this assessment is completed, the Department will be in contact with the school authorities as to the next steps involved in progressing this building project. In the case of all large capital projects on hand in the school building section, progression of the project to tender and construction will be considered in the context of the multi-annual school building and modernisation programme. The Department of Education and Science is committed to providing suitable high quality accommodation for O'Brennan national school at the earliest possible date.

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