Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

An application for capital funding towards the provision of a new school building was received in April from the school referred to by the Deputy. This was the first such application from the school. On foot of it and information supplied by the school regarding its condition, officials from the planning and building unit of my Department visited the school in June. Consequently, €26,862 was sanctioned to carry out remedial works to the school.

In November, the school invited the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, to inspect the building. The HSA inspector served an improvement notice on the board of management directing that "a new safety statement based on site-specific risk assessment must be compiled by a competent person and implemented at this place of work". It is the responsibility of individual school management authorities to have an up-to-date safety statement in place in their schools. Following receipt of the HSA report, my Department has sanctioned funding for the school to engage a qualified health and safety consultant to survey it and to assist the school authority in compiling an up-to-date safety statement.

The school principal also invited the department of public health of the HSE to inspect the school. A copy of the report of the HSE representative who visited the school was forwarded to my Department in mid-November. The report advised that one classroom should be temporarily closed due to evidence of damp penetration and fungal growth. I understand that the fungal growth has been safely removed and that the classroom is back in use.

The school, which has a current enrolment of 49 pupils, is situated in a rural area. As such, it would have been a suitable candidate for the small schools scheme, introduced by my Department in 2003. The scheme was targeted at small rural schools and provided funding for more than 730 such schools around the country. One of the key principles of the scheme was that responsibility for project management was devolved to individual school authorities for the purposes of refurbishing and-or extending existing buildings in order to address the schools' long-term accommodation needs. However, my Department has no record of having received an application under the scheme from this school.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Department records show that, in the past five years, the school received €33,917 under the grant scheme for minor works to national schools. Works that can be covered under this scheme are improvements to school buildings and grounds, the improvement or replacement of mechanical and electrical services, the purchase of standard furniture and physical education equipment, the purchase of floor covering and window blinds and the purchase of IT-related equipment. My Department has been in contact with the school regarding the use of these funds.

My Department is in ongoing contact with the school regarding its needs. The Deputy will be aware that I requested officials from my Department to visit the school. A member of the inspectorate and officials from my Department's building unit are arranging to visit the school on Thursday, 11 December. In light of the many competing demands on my Department's capital budget, it is not possible to give any commitment relating to the provision of a new building for the school at this time.

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