Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. His main interest concerns the school to which he referred. I understand there are two schools listed for Ballynacargy, each with its own roll number. One is Scoil Bhríde and the other is Ballynacargy mixed national school. My reply to the parliamentary question last week related to Scoil Bhríde and my reply tonight concerns the mixed national school. If there is any confusion over this, I will be happy to clarify it for the Deputy.

The Deputy will be aware of the extent of the modernisation of schools nationwide, particularly given the under-investment in this area over many years. Obviously, many old schools are being modernised and we have been keeping pace with the rapid population growth. This year alone the Government has spent €550 million on the schools building programme. Under the lifetime of the national development plan, some €4.5 billion will be invested. This is an unprecedented level of investment and shows our commitment to continued investment in primary and post-primary schools.

Some €300 million will be invested in large-scale building projects, mainly in rapidly developing areas. This will facilitate 150 large-scale projects and deliver 15,000 additional permanent places in new schools and extensions and modernised facilities in existing schools, benefiting over 45,000 pupils. It will also enable the purchase of sites to facilitate the smooth delivery of the schools building programme, again focusing on site requirements in rapidly developing areas. The balance will be used to fund the other schemes referred to by the Deputy, namely, the summer works scheme, the small schools scheme, the permanent accommodation scheme, etc. This year alone, some 1,500 schools building projects will be delivered.

As Deputy Penrose rightly stated, Ballynacargy mixed national school has a principal, three mainstream teachers, one learning support-resource teacher and one resource teacher. There are small classes and a pupil teacher ratio of approximately 1:19. Enrolment has been very stable over the past five years. I accept that in some cases additional teachers were employed before accommodation was made available. It was more important to put staff in place than wait for the classrooms, particularly in respect of resource teaching and supports for children.

The mixed national school's application was not successful on this occasion. I will clarify the position in respect of the other roll number referred to by the Deputy. It is open to the school to apply again for funding and the circumstances outlined by the Deputy will be taken into consideration in light of the multi-annual schools building and modernisation programme.

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