Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and to clarify the current position of the application for major capital funding from Clonakilty Community College. Unfortunately, the culture of promises for schools building projects is corrupted. Pledges going back to the 2002 general election and reiterated in 2007 have confused many communities. One of my objectives is to provide absolute clarity on all projects in early January 2012. If there is bad news, so be it. We need clarity rather than obfuscation which only misleads people and generates hopes which are later dashed.

The Department of Education and Skills forecasts an increase of over 25,000 post-primary pupils by the start of the 2018 school year. This cohort will continue to grow until 2024 at least. In the first quarter of this year 19,950 babies were born, the highest number of births since the quarterly series began in 1960. The demographic challenge is enormous. To meet the needs of our growing population of school-going children, the delivery of new schools together with extension projects will be the main focus for capital investment in the coming years. We must ensure every child born this morning will be looking into a schoolyard, not into a field, several years from now.

Clonakilty Community College applied for major capital funding for an extension. The application was assessed and assigned a band 2.4 rating. Under the Department's assessment process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners. A 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.

The school's extension project was included in the announcement by the then Minister for Education and Skills January 2011 - we knew what we were heading into then - which stated, "where briefs will be formulated in 2011 and the process of appointing a design team will commence". This is the third time the college has been told a design team would be appointed.

In this regard, it is intended to review with the school the long-term pupil enrolment. The plans for the school also envisage the provision of accommodation for an all-Irish unit. The next step will involve a site visit by the Department's technical staff which is envisaged to take place in the coming weeks. The Deputy may update me on this when he responds. Following the visit, a schedule of accommodation for the school will be drawn up. When this process has been completed, the appointment of a design team can commence.

We have no choice but to respond as a matter of urgency to the increasing cohort of school-going children. Without making any commitment on this matter, I can only see this project advancing if Deputy Jim Daly's community can demonstrate a long-term pupil enrolment in the area.

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