Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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At the heart of the matter in Scoil Ruain, Killenaule, is the frustration being experienced by students, by teachers and by parents. It is the frustration of waiting 20 years for a facility to which they are entitled. The school management is looking for a basic sports facility, a sports hall. Despite many promises, nothing has happened. It is the second term of office of the Government parties and the school authorities, parents and students are still waiting. The school moved into a new building approximately 20 years ago, without a sports hall or an assembly area. To date, this oversight has not been corrected.

It is important to note that the school is widely known as one where students and school management work in a spirit of co-operation. The management and staff of the school are very proud of their students and are assured that they can take their students on any trip, foreign or otherwise, in the full knowledge that they will not cause trouble or misbehave. In view of the difficulties associated with discipline and behaviour at post primary level this is a testament to the commitment and respect ingrained in the school's culture.

The tremendous support from the loyal parents who continue to send their children to the school, despite the fact that there are no indoor sports facilities, must be acknowledged. Parents have such faith in the school and the ability of the teachers and management that the school is seeing the second and third generation of students from many families. This demonstrates the level of belief which the parents and local community have in the school in Killenaule.

On behalf of the school authorities I extend an invitation to the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, to visit the school. The management has expressed the view to me that it would like her to visit during an assembly time. At present, there is an assembly area in the middle of the school that is used for guest speakers, open evenings, parents' night, graduation Masses and other events. Many of the classrooms open on to this assembly area. As one can imagine, this becomes a chaotic scene when the bell chimes and classes pour into an already occupied assembly area. The level of disruption, interruption and pandemonium is unimaginable and inexcusable. Daily routine in Scoil Ruain is difficult for everyone, yet staff and students continue with the daily grind in the hope that one day the promises of the Government might be realised.

Scoil Ruain is in a disadvantaged area. It is acknowledged that if the school were in a city, facilities and resources would be made available. This is a rural school in Tipperary which feels it is invisible and considered to be off the map as far as resources from the Government is concerned. In effect, the sporting and assembly needs of the school have been ditched and ignored by the Government.

The school caters for approximately 400 students. All sporting activities take place outdoors regardless of the weather. The students of Scoil Ruain are at a complete disadvantage by comparison with students who have easy access to indoor facilities. On several occasions during the year, students need to travel to use the facilities of other schools. They need to borrow or rent these facilities. On wet and rainy days, there is no physical education, no exercise and no fitness programme in the school. How does this unacceptable omission square with the Minister's health and fitness programme to combat obesity and diabetes?

If the Government is serious about combating these problems, adequate sporting and assembly facilities must be provided for schools such as Scoil Ruain. Considering the immense financial resources available to the Minister and the unspent funds at her disposal, how can she justify the exclusion of this school from the building programme? I urge the Minister in the strongest possible terms to sanction immediately the necessary funding for the sports hall in Scoil Ruain, Killenaule.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise for the absence of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, who is unavoidably absent owing to other commitments. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter of the application for capital funding for Scoil Ruain, Killenaule, County Tipperary. I am happy to be able to outline to him where the project stands in the context of the huge amount of capital works being undertaken by the Department of Education and Science under the schools building and modernisation programme.

Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task, given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless, since taking office, the Government has shown a sincere 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.

The Government has invested in the largest school building programme in the history of the State. Between 1998 and the end of 2004, almost €2 billion was invested in school buildings and in the region of 7,500 large and small projects were completed in schools, including 130 brand new schools and 510 large-scale refurbishments and extensions. Funding for school building and renovation projects has increased fivefold since 1997. In 2006, €491 million will be spent on school building projects, compared with just €92 million in 1997. The 2006 allocation is, in its own right, an increase of more than 9% in real terms on the 2005 allocation.

As the Deputy will be aware, at the end of last year the Department of Education and Science outlined its spending plans for primary and post-primary schools for 2006. With €491 million to be spent on school buildings, there will be over 1,300 projects active in schools all over the country. This significant investment will allow the Department to continue to progress its major programme of school building and modernisation which includes improving equipment needed for new technologies and ICT.

The school in question applied to the Department of Education and Science for capital funding for the development of a PE hall. The Department fully recognises the crucial role of physical exercise within the school environment and it is committed to funding the provision of PE, general purpose and outdoor play areas in schools as part of the schools' capital investment programme. As with any application for capital funding, applications for the provision of PE or sports facilities in existing schools must be considered in the context of all other applications on hand for capital investment, such as applications for new schools, refurbishment projects, extensions, new sites, remediation programmes and so on. This is done in the context of available resources and the published criteria for prioritising school building projects.

I will briefly explain and summarise these criteria which show the self-evident logic of how projects are selected for inclusion in a school building programme. There are four band ratings under the criteria, with band 1 being the highest and band 4 the lowest in terms of priorities. Band 1 consists of projects for new schools and extensions to schools in rapidly developing areas, accommodation for special needs students, projects for schools that are structurally unsound and rationalisation projects. Band 2 projects range from major extensions to address mainstream accommodation deficits and extensive to moderate refurbishments to existing schools to maintain the integrity of buildings. Band 3 projects deal with the provision of ancillary accommodation and improvement works for other than special education accommodation. Band 4 includes all other project types, for example PE halls, general purpose rooms, etc.

Not alone are these criteria open and transparent but they were revised in recent times following consultation with the education partners to ensure that they are tuned to meet the many challenges presenting for the school building programme. These include the needs of rapidly developing areas where little or no accommodation exists, the accommodation requirements for the massive expansion in teacher numbers, the need to cater for both diversity and our special needs pupils, not to mention tackling the historical under investment in our existing school building stock.

The PE hall project for the school in question been assigned a band 4 rating under the prioritisation criteria. Over the past five years, however, enrolments have fallen at the school by 15%. The Department of Education and Science is revisiting the school's application for the purposes of drawing up long-term projected enrolment. While this will not have the effect of changing the band rating for the PE hall project, it will ensure that the project is properly assessed for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme at the appropriate time.