Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the current position in relation to the need for permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada, Lucan, County Dublin.

The Minister, Deputy O'Keeffe, would like to clarify that modernising facilities in the existing building stock as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth is a significant challenge and one which Minister, Deputy O'Keeffe, intends to be one of his priorities as Minister for Education and Science.

This Government has dramatically increased investment in the school building programme to almost €600 million this year. Within the lifetime of the national development plan almost €4.5 billion will be invested in schools. This is an unprecedented level of capital investment which reflects the commitment of the Government to continue its programme of sustained investment in primary and post-primary schools. It will underpin a particular emphasis on the delivery of additional school places in rapidly developing areas while continuing to develop on the Government's commitment to delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary accommodation throughout the country. It will also enable the purchase of sites to facilitate the smooth delivery of the school building programme, again with the focus being on site requirements in rapidly developing areas.

In regard to Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada, the school is currently operating in temporary accommodation on a site that is in the ownership of County Dublin VEC. The Department is in consultation with County Dublin VEC on the possibility of using this site, together with an additional portion of VEC lands to cater for the school's long-term accommodation needs. Once the site has been acquired, the building project required to address the school's accommodation needs will be considered in the context of the multi-annual school building and modernisation programme.

A study has been conducted to determine the feasibility of this proposal. It is currently under consideration within the Department and the acquisition of the site will be considered in the context of the capital budget available to the Department for school buildings generally. In light of many competing demands on the capital budget of the Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the acquisition of the school site at this time.

Projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project which indicates the urgency, type and extent of work required at a school. The band rating system involves all applications for capital funding being assessed in the planning and building unit of the Department. The assessment process determines the extent and type of need presenting, based on the demographics of an area, proposed housing developments, condition of buildings, site capacity, etc., leading ultimately to an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners. This project has a band rating of 1.1.

I again thank the Deputy for affording me the opportunity to outline the current position in regard to the provision of permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil Eiscir Riada, Lucan, County Dublin.

See this speech in context