Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the position with regard to the Department's plans to provide for the infrastructural needs of the three all-Irish schools in Clondalkin, including Gaelscoil na Camóige.

The three schools are Gaelscoil na Camóige and Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin which are primary schools, and Coláiste Chillian, a post-primary school. Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin and Coláiste Chillian currently occupy the same VEC-owned site in Clondalkin. Gaelscoil na Camóige occupies rented accommodation in the area.

The Department is committed to providing permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil na Camóige and, with the assistance of the Office of Public Works, it made strenuous attempts to acquire a suitable site to enable this. None was available. The Department then sought the assistance of the County of Dublin VEC to arrive at a solution. An earlier VEC proposal was rejected by the school authority but a second proposal was accepted. This involves the provision of permanent accommodation for the school on the Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin-Coláiste Chillian site.

Gaelscoil na Camóige has a current enrolment of 225 pupils. Its staffing comprises a principal and eight classroom assistants. The school also has two special education teachers. Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin currently has 279 pupils on roll and has a staffing complement of a principal and ten classroom assistants. Three special education teachers are employed there. The intention is to provide each school with permanent accommodation for 16 mainstream classroom assistants to cater for the long-term needs of the area. It is also intended that the schools will re-organise to form a junior and a senior school. The current enrolment for Coláiste Chillian is 387 pupils. Its accommodation is being increase to provide for 680 pupils to cater for demand from the expansion of the primary schools.

The Department asked the VEC to carry out a master plan of the site to ascertain if it could facilitate the plans to accommodate all three schools. This has been done and the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is pleased to be able to inform the Deputy that the site can be developed as intended. The next step is the appointment of a design team to commence architectural planning.

As the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has explained in this House on a number of occasions, all applications for large-scale capital funding, including the one in question, are assessed against published prioritisation criteria and assigned a band rating. Projects are selected for inclusion in a capital programme consistent with that band rating. The band rating attaching to this project is band 1.4, a high rating, and reflects the fact that all-Irish infrastructural provision in the area is to be rationalised.

However, due to the scale of the demand on the capital budget of the Department of Education and Sciene, it is not possible to provide an indicative timeframe for the progression of the project at this time. Recently the Minister explained the situation in this regard to a delegation from the school.

The Minister is aware there are issues with regard to the school's temporary accommodation. The Department of Education and Science has informed the board of management that it has the responsibility to ensure that the accommodation it is renting is suitable for school use. It should raise matters of concern directly with the landlord and ensure they are addressed to its satisfaction.

I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter and I assure her that I acknowledge the need for permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil na Camóige. I am committed to providing this as soon as the necessary funding is available.

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