Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am replying to this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills. I thank the Deputy for raising this, as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in school building projects and also to outline the current application by the school authority to provide for an extension to Dromclough national school in Listowel ,County Kerry.

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 school buildings, site capacity and so forth, leading to an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of the assessment process a school project is assigned a band rating under the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners.

Under the prioritisation criteria, 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 1 is the highest and band 4 the lowest. Band 1 projects, for example, include the provision of school accommodation where there is no existing school or where existing provision is unable to meet the demand for pupil places. A band 4 project makes provision for desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities, such as a library or new sports hall.

The project to provide for an extension and refurbishment for Dromclough national school has been assigned a band 2.2 rating under the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. The school has a current staffing level of a principal and seven mainstream teachers. It also has the services of three learning support-resource teachers. Its accommodation comprises six mainstream permanent classrooms, two temporary mainstream classrooms and three ancillary accommodation. The school's enrolment was 193 pupils at September 2010. With regard to enrolment, there has been no change in its pupil numbers over the last five years and, therefore, the school is not experiencing the rapid increase in enrolments that have occurred in other schools around the county.

The progression of all large-scale building projects, including this project, from initial design stage through to construction will be considered in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme for 2011 and subsequent years. However, in light of competing demands on the capital budget of the Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of this project at this time. I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to outline to the House the current position regarding the school building project for Dromclough national school, Listowel, County Kerry.

See this speech in context