Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Cassidy for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the current position in relation to Whitehall national school, County Westmeath. The school has just 66 pupils and has experienced an overall increase of 14% in enrolments during the past five years. As Deputy Cassidy said, the school management authority made an application to the Department for major capital investment for additional accommodation which included an additional mainstream classroom and associated ancillary accommodation. The application has been afforded a band 2 rating under the published prioritisation criteria.

In addition, an application was submitted by the school management under the devolved scheme for this year. Due to the volume of applications under this scheme it was not possible to allocate funding to all projects on this occasion. The school can, of course, reapply for next year's scheme.

I note that the school authority has not applied for any capital funding under the Department's summer works scheme which has been advertised on an annual basis since 2004. The scheme is designed to fund applications such as electrical, mechanical, window projects, roof replacement, structural repairs, etc., projects which can be delivered over a short period of time, in particular while the schools are on their summer break. Some of the issues mentioned by the Deputy, for example toilets, are a specific category under the summer works scheme, and I am somewhat surprised the school did not apply under this heading. Other issues raised by the Deputy such as windows could have been addressed in this way, too, as indeed could the roof replacement project. The Department will be announcing details of the 2008 scheme in the coming months and I would urge the school to apply under this scheme. This year about 1,000 schools will have summer works projects undertaken.

Issues in relation to environmental health are matters for the environmental health officers in the local authority and it is critically important for the school to contact them immediately if it is experiencing the type of difficulties outlined by the Deputy.

I thank Deputy Cassidy for raising this matter. I hope the school will be able to take the advice and benefit from the summer works scheme, but of course, its application next year for the devolved grant will also be considered.

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