Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

I am replying to this motion on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and to outline the current position on St. Joseph's national school, Rathwire, Killucan, County Westmeath.

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 demands in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless, the Government has shown a consistent determination to improve the condition of school buildings and ensure the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

The Government has dramatically increased investment in the school building programme from just over €90 million to €540 million this year. Under the lifetime of the national development plan, almost €4.5 billion will be invested in schools. This unprecedented level of capital investment reflects the commitment of the Government to continuing its programme of sustained investment in primary and post primary schools. This year over €300 million will be invested in large scale building projects concentrated mainly in the provision of school accommodation in rapidly developing areas.

The funding will facilitate construction work on over 150 large scale projects which will deliver over 15,000 additional permanent places in new schools and the extension and modernisation of facilities in existing schools for over 45,000 pupils. It will also enable the purchase of sites to facilitate the smooth delivery of the school building programme with a focus on site requirements in rapidly developing areas. The balance will be used to fund the other elements of the school building programme such as the summer works scheme, the small schools scheme and the permanent accommodation scheme. In total over 1,500 school building projects will be delivered in 2007.

St. Joseph's national school has a current staffing of one principal, five mainstream teachers and one learning support and resource teacher. The school has a current enrolment of 147 pupils and has experienced a 15% increase in enrolments over the past five years.

The school management authority made an application to the Department in February 2006 for capital investment in additional classroom accommodation. The application was assessed in accordance with the Department's published prioritisation criteria. As the Deputy will be aware, all applications for large scale capital funding are assessed against published prioritisation criteria. Progress on individual projects, such as the one in question, will be considered in the context of the multi-annual school building and modernisation programme.

In common with all applications for major capital investment, the Department carries out a detailed examination of the demographic profile of an area, together with planned housing developments and other matters to ensure that any planned capital investment will meet the needs of the area as a whole for the foreseeable future. A recent submission on developments in the area has been received from the school authorities and is being examined by the Department. All schools are required as an interim measure to maximize the use of existing accommodation until the Department is in a position to make extra accommodation available.

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