John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I apologise for the fact that the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is unable to be here this evening. I thank Deputy O'Donnell for raising this matter which gives me the opportunity to outline to the Dáil the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and to outline the current position in regard to the school mentioned by Deputy O'Donnell, namely, JFK Memorial national school, Limerick.

As the Deputy will appreciate, modernising facilities in our existing building stock and 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 Department's forward planning section has carried out a study of the country to identify areas where, due to demographic changes, there may be a requirement for significant additional school provision at primary and post-primary levels in the coming years. This study has been conducted using data from the Central Statistics Office, the General Register Office and the Department of Social and Family Affairs in addition to recent schools' enrolment data. The study indicates that the requirement for additional primary provision in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 is likely to be greatest in more than 40 selected locations across the country based on significant changes to the demographics of those areas. I can inform the Deputy that Limerick City has been identified as one of these areas.

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