Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to address the issue of the amalgamation of the national schools in Kanturk, County Cork. This issue has been with the Department of Education and Science and there has been correspondence between the Department's planning and building unit and the chairperson of the board of management, Canon John Terry, in respect of the amalgamation of the girls' primary school and St. Colman's boys' national school in Kanturk.

In the past two or three years, technical assessments have been carried out and further to correspondence between the chairman of the board of management and the Minister for Education and Science in November 2003, it was decided that a further technical assessment of the two buildings would be carried out. At this stage, the boards of management of both national schools have indicated to the Department their willingness to amalgamate them into a co-educational school. The issue which must be addressed is that the facilities on site in both the convent girls' primary school and St. Colman's boys' national school are housed in confined spaces. The best option from my point of view and that of the boards of management and the people of Kanturk is a new greenfield site. Will the Minister of State outline to the House what the current position is in respect of this project?

As the Minister and Minister of State will be aware, Kanturk is a growing town. Some 120 new houses are currently being built, which will put further pressure on the primary school facilities in the town. As the Minister will also know, Kanturk is to benefit from the decentralisation programme announced by the Government in the budget, which initiative I welcome. This will encourage further growth in Kanturk and we may end up with a bigger town whose school facilities have outgrown their usefulness. The willingness of the boards of management and staff of both schools in their plans for amalgamation in this case must be commended.

I ask the Minister of State to take into account the necessity for decisions to be made and communicated to the boards of management of both schools to advance the cause of the amalgamation, which has been so readily met by the boards. In many cases, such amalgamations are fraught with difficulty but in this case it is running smoothly. I ask the Minister of State to further advance this case as a matter of urgency. There is a great need for the schools to amalgamate to provide an excellent co-educational national school for the people of Kanturk given the growth projections.

Noel Treacy (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it gives me the opportunity to outline to the House the strategy of the Department of Education and Science for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the position regarding the proposed amalgamation of the national schools in Kanturk, County Cork. The enrolment at St Colman's boys' national school, Kanturk, has been decreasing in recent years, from 111 pupils in 1998-99 to 98 pupils in September 2003. The school has a staffing of principal and three mainstream assistants, one permanent learning support teacher and one permanent resource teacher. Scoil Náisiúnta Chlochair is a co-educational school in the town which enrols boys in junior and senior infants only. Enrolments have increased slightly in recent years from 158 pupils in 1998-99 to 167 pupils in September 2003. The school has a staffing of principal and five mainstream assistants. In 2001 an amalgamation between the two schools was proposed by the school authorities and all parties expressed agreement to the amalgamation in 2002.

A technical inspection of the school and site was carried out at this time and a recommendation was made that the convent school could accommodate the amalgamated school on its premises as a medium-term solution. The recommendation was that a new school on a greenfield site should be provided as a long-term solution. The purchase of a site and the advancement of the school's building project to architectural planning will depend on the budgetary provision for 2005 and subsequent years.

The 2004 school building programme at primary and post-primary level amounts to €387 million and outlines details of more than 200 large scale projects proceeding to construction, 120 projects recently completed or under construction and more than 400 at various stages of the architectural planning process. When publishing the 2004 school building programme, the Department outlined that its strategy will be grounded in capital investment based on multi-annual allocations. Officials from the Department of Education and Science are reviewing all projects which were not authorised to proceed to construction as part of the 2004 school building programme with a view to including them as part of a multi-annual school building programme from 2005. The national schools referred to by the Deputy will be considered in this process and the Department expects to be in a position to make further announcements on this matter in the course of the year.

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the method used by the Department of Education and Science in determining in an open and transparent way how projects are included for funding in the school building programme and to assure the House that this school and all others will be treated in a fair and equitable manner by the Minister and his staff at the Department of Education and Science.