Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for Education and Science how she intends to deal with the provision of permanent school accommodation in areas of major population growth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8222/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is the policy of my Department to provide a permanent accommodation solution in so far as possible to meet the demands presenting for schools in areas of major population growth. However, the time span involved in architectural design and obtaining planning permission processes effectively means that in all instances it may not be possible to provide a permanent accommodation solution as soon as it is required. In these cases temporary accommodation is provided as an interim measure.

I am conscious of the pressures being placed on education providers in areas of major population growth. To this end my Department is prioritising the provision of new and enhanced educational facilities in these areas. The prioritisation criteria, which were recently revised in consultation with the education partners allocates a top priority band 1 rating to school building projects in such areas.

My Department is included among the prescribed authorities to which local authorities are statutorily obliged to send draft development plans or proposed variations to development plans for comment. As a matter of course, meetings are arranged with local authorities to establish the location, scale and pace of any major proposed developments and their possible implications for school provision so as to ensure as far as possible the timely delivery of the required education infrastructure.

In recent years my Department has worked to strengthen contacts with local authorities to facilitate informed decisions on planning future educational provision. For example, the Dublin school planning committee, chaired by officials of my Department, interacts with the Dublin local authorities. This forum comprises representatives of the local authorities in Dublin, together with representatives of the patron bodies of primary schools and it monitors demographic changes and their likely impact.

The school planning section of my Department also works with some local authorities to explore the possibility of the development of school provision in tandem with the development of community facilities. This enhanced co-operation minimises my Department's land requirements and thus reduces site costs while at the same time providing local communities with new schools with enhanced facilities. Under the provisions of the strategic development zones it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and also that the schools must be developed in line with the housing and other developments.

My Department has recently adopted an area-based approach to school planning where, through a public consultation process involving the education partners, a blueprint for schools' development in an area for a ten year time frame can be set out. The areas covered in the pilot phase of this area-based approach to school planning include north Dublin, south Louth and mid-Meath; the N4-M4 route running from Leixlip to Kilbeggan, including Maynooth, Celbridge, Kilcock, Edenderry and rapidly developing villages and towns on that route. Taken in combination these measures will improve the speed and effectiveness of the response to emerging needs.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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A ten-year timeframe at this stage is too little too late. There has been an appalling lack of planning in the past and we must learn from previous disastrous decisions to ensure that cannot happen again. Does the Minister agree that the present emergencies must be dealt with now?

Is the Minister aware of the situation in places such as Johnstown outside Navan, Ballivor, Navan and Ratoath, which is a prime example of the problem? What can the Minister say to a school with 940 pupils? She will probably be there to open a €4 million extension later in the year but the school will remain one classroom short at current growth rates. What can be done in such situations? There is a school in Gorey, County Wexford which caters for twice the number of pupils for which it was built, as Deputy Kehoe can confirm.

We must ensure we can deal with these emergencies. A ten-year time frame is a nice idea in places where population growth is about to start but in places such as those I have named already experiencing serious problems, something more urgent must be done. Other places, such as Enfield, Lismullen and Coole are in a disastrous position and the parents are frustrated at the lack of action. They cannot wait ten years, which is the cycle of primary school education, so where can they go? In many of these areas the answer is simply, nowhere.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The demographics for some of the areas around Dublin reached their projected numbers years in advance of the dates given in the census. For that reason five new primary schools in Kildare have been recognised, three in Meath and two in Dublin, of the counties the Deputy mentioned. This is the type of initiative we take as an immediate response.

The Deputy mentioned Ratoath where an extension to cater for the senior students of the primary school will open in September and already there are plans for a third school there. I visited there recently and saw that end of the county is well served by educational developments and extensions. More provision is needed in some other counties such as Wexford, Westmeath and Laois which are within an hour or 90 minutes' drive of Dublin, and demand has grown.

One anticipated that new building would bring young couples with new families in four or five years' time, instead, five schools on the north side of Dublin have closed while there is a demand for schools in Meath. Whole families move in May and need school places in September. We must react to this. That is why we are investing so much in extensions to schools and pursuing sites in other situations.

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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What time frames does this involve for a school such as Johnstown, which is newly recognised? How long does the Minister envisage such a school in a major growth area must wait because ten years is too long? The school cannot provide and teach the new curriculum in its present situation. That is only one example.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I do not wish to speak about any one school. I would not envisage a ten year wait for a school that is recognised. The funding for this year alone for the schools' modernisation and building programme is €493 million of which €270 million will go into primary schools.

Is the Deputy referring to the Johnstown, Kill school?

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I am referring to Johnstown in Navan but it is probably the same in Johnstown in Kill.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There are problems regarding sites which are tied up with rezoning. I have witnessed situations where the politicians calling for new schools vote against the rezoning of the only available site in the area. There are planning issues and problems of infrastructure, development and provision. I do not envisage any delay for new schools because they get priority 1 status.