Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I assure Deputy Neville that there is nothing in the response about funds being diverted. I do not know from where this information has come; it may be a rumour.

I thank Deputies Cregan and Neville for raising the issue and for giving me the opportunity of outlining to the House the Department's position regarding the provision of a new primary school at Kilfinane, County Limerick.

It is proposed to build a new six-classroom school including a general purpose hall and ancillary accommodation on a new green field site. The project is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning. The stage three submission, developed sketch scheme, has been recently approved and preparation of the stages four and five documentation, detail design and bills of quantities, is currently underway.

Under the national development plan, €4.5 billion has been assigned to the capital requirements of the primary and post-primary sectors. More than €540 million will be spent this year on school buildings. The level of construction alone in the primary and post-primary sectors in 2007 is such that it will deliver more than 700 classrooms to provide permanent accommodation for around 17,500 pupils.

The progression of all large-scale building projects from initial design stage through to construction phase is considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme. The progression of Kilfinane primary school, as with all large-scale projects, will be considered in this context.

I assure the Deputies that the Department of Education and Science is committed to providing suitable high quality accommodation for Kilfinane at the earliest possible date.

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