Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

The Minister stated previously in this House that he shares fully the concerns of the whole school community in Kilfinane about their school building, particularly in the matter of the outdoor toilets. The Deputy will be aware that he visited the school in the recent past and spoke directly to the pupils, teachers and parents, assuring them that this situation would be remedied as soon as resources are available.

However, the Deputy will appreciate that while the Minister is committed to advancing the project for Kilfinane as soon as funding is available, the reality is that not all the demands on the Department's capital budget can be met at the same time. This being the case, all application for capital funding in the Department must be prioritised and advanced in accordance with the priority attaching to them. To achieve this, the Department of Education and Science consulted the education partners following which it introduced prioritisation criteria for the allocation of funding to large-scale building projects.

Not alone has the introduction of these published criteria improved the management of the building programme but they also ensure an orderly advancement over time of all school building projects, with the most urgent need being addressed first in accordance with the level of funding available. The Minister does not wish to see any school operating from less than satisfactory accommodation. However, he must be realistic in terms of the overall demand on the Department's budget not only to meet the needs of rapidly developing areas where there is little or no school accommodation in existence but to address the decades of under-investment in the existing school stock prior to 1978. This is not an easy task and it will take time. An enormous volume of work has been carried out by the Department in recent years with more than 7,800 projects having being carried out during the lifetime of the previous national development plan.

The Department has been positioned with an allocation of €581 million in the current budget to continue with its programme of work to provide pupil places where they are needed and to continue its modernisation programme for schools such as Kilfinane. The Minister told the pupils, teachers and parents in Kilfinane national school that their building project is a priority. He wants to again assure them that he is sincerely committed to advancing their project as soon as the requisite funding is available.

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