Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy will be aware, my Department has been prioritising developing areas for investment under the school building and modernisation programme. During the period of the previous National Development Plan 2000-2006, record levels of investment and the streamlining of delivery systems allowed a major acceleration of the schools building programme. More than €2.6 billion was invested in upgrading existing school infrastructure and providing new school accommodation at both first and second level. This was the largest investment programme in the history of the State and delivered more than 7,800 building projects involving tens of thousands of extra permanent school places.

Innovations in the delivery of school buildings, such as generic repeat designs and the use of the design and build model, have been introduced to ensure new school buildings are delivered in the fastest time possible. Greater authority has been devolved to local school management boards to manage and deliver smaller building projects, thereby freeing my Department to concentrate on the large-scale projects. We have improved forward planning through greater co-operation with local authorities and the publication of ten-year area development plans. All of these developments have facilitated the provision of extra school places in extensions and new schools in developing areas all over the country.

This is the first year of the roll-out of the NDP, which will involve an investment of more than €4.5 billion in school buildings, enabling us to take a pro-active approach to the provision of modern school accommodation, particularly in developing areas. We are planning for an expected 100,000 additional school places in the plan's lifetime. This year, approximately €540 million will be spent on school building infrastructure, with more than 1,500 projects on the school building programme. Construction this year will deliver 700 classrooms.

The commitment to a developing areas unit in the programme for Government reflects a desire to build on the improvements made in school planning in recent years and to ensure an even sharper focus on developing areas. The unit will liaise with local authorities, identify where new schools are needed and ensure their delivery as quickly as possible. Although we are only a few months into the lifetime of the current Government, the administrative and technical staffing requirements for the unit, including issues of grading and reporting structures, are under consideration with a view to advancing the commitment's implementation.

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