Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I am happy to reply on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who, unfortunately, cannot be present. He has asked me to acknowledge Deputy Breen's considerable input into this issue and that of the Minister of State, Deputy Tony Killeen, and Deputy Timmy Dooley, who are also present.

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Dáil the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the current position on Scoil na Mainistreach in particular. In March 2001, Scoil na Mainistreach applied to the Department for an extension comprising one classroom, a resource room, a learning support room, a library, a medical room and a staff room.

The school has a current staffing level of a principal and seven mainstream teachers, plus one developing post. It also has the services of three learning support-resource teachers. Its current accommodation consists of five mainstream permanent classrooms, three prefabricated mainstream classrooms plus some ancillary accommodation. The school was recently approved for funding for the provision of additional accommodation for one mainstream classroom.

As the Deputy will be aware, all applications for capital funding are 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 and site capacity, leading ultimately to an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of that process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. Those criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners.

Projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. That is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project. In other words, a proposed building project moves through the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it. There are four band ratings overall, of which band one is the highest and band four the lowest. Band one projects, for example, include the provision of buildings where none currently exist, but where there is a high demand for pupil places, while a band four project makes provision of desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities. Each band rating has a number of sub-categories which more specifically describe the type of works needed and the urgency attaching to them.

The application from Scoil na Mainistreach has been assigned a band rating of 2.2. That reflects the fact that a school has a deficit of mainstream accommodation which constitutes a significant proportion of the schools overall accommodation needs but that the condition of the existing accommodation is adequate. As the Deputy will appreciate, modernising facilities in our existing building stock as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth are a significant challenge. The Government has shown a consistent determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum. However, the level of demand on the school building programme is such that all projects cannot be carried out together. They will have to be carried out over time in a structured and coherent manner and that is the reasoning behind the Department's published prioritisation criteria. The project for Scoil na Mainistreach will be carried out consistent with that approach. In the intervening period, the school can apply for temporary accommodation to meet its needs if that is necessary. I again thank the Deputy for raising the matter and assure him that the Minister is committed to advancing the project.

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