Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her Department's projected increase in the school-going population over the lifetime of the national development plan; the way she proposes to accelerate the purchase of sites and the construction of schools and classrooms in time to meet this projected need in order to reduce class size; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5137/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Increases in our population, including the impact of immigration, are now unquestionably the main drivers of growth in demand for school accommodation. On foot of current and projected demographics, the Department is planning provision for a minimum increase in the national primary school-going population of 100,000 pupils by 2013. The number of extra classrooms that will be needed will depend on such factors as the spread of the additional pupils and the capacity, or otherwise, of existing schools to meet this demand. Nonetheless, the Government is determined to provide the extra accommodation that will be needed in line with or ahead of demand.

We have dramatically increased investment in the school building programme, from just over €90 million when we came into office to €540 million this year. Under the lifetime of the national development plan almost €4.5 billion will be invested in schools. This is an unprecedented level of capital investment which reflects the commitment of the Government to continue its programme of sustained investment in primary and post primary schools.

This year, more than €300 million will be invested in large-scale school building projects concentrated mainly in the provision of school accommodation in rapidly developing areas. This level of funding will facilitate construction work on more than 150 large scale projects which will deliver more than 15,000 additional permanent places in new schools and the extension and modernisation of facilities in existing schools for more than 45,000 pupils.

It will also enable the purchase of sites to facilitate the smooth delivery of the school building programme, again with the focus being on site requirements in rapidly developing areas. The balance will be used to fund the other elements of the school building programme such the summer works scheme, the small schools scheme, the permanent accommodation scheme, etc. In total, more than 1,500 projects will be delivered in 2007.

Not only are we investing far more in school buildings, but the improvements that have been made in the planning, design and delivery processes are also helping to deliver projects much more quickly. There is now much greater forward planning, with close and regular engagement with local authorities, while a new partnership model has been developed to deliver community facilities in tandem with new schools. To reduce red tape and allow projects to move faster, responsibility for smaller projects has been devolved to school level. Standard designs have also been developed for eight, 12 and 16-classroom schools to facilitate speedier delivery of projects and save on design fees.

Steps have been taken to reduce expenditure on the purchase of prefabs by enabling schools to build permanent accommodation instead. While it is impossible to eradicate the need for prefabs where extra accommodation is needed at very short notice, the amount spent is kept to an absolute minimum. Over the past five years, expenditure on temporary accommodation represented approximately 4% of the total capital expenditure on school buildings. Last year, it was less than 1.5%.

We are also doing our level best to enable new schools in developing areas to open in high quality permanent accommodation from the start. The new primary schools for Adamstown are being delivered in this way. Through both increased investment under the NDP and the improved planning and delivery processes that we have put in place in recent years, the Government will ensure that the need for extra school places is met.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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I join Deputy Enright in welcoming the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey. I wish him well in his job and wish Deputy de Valera all the best in her retirement. We look forward to working with the new Minister of State, even if it is only for a short period.

While I do not doubt that the Government is investing considerably into school buildings, it is running very fast to stand still with the anticipated demographic changes that will see 100,000 additional children by 2013. At the present rate of progress does the Department feel it will be able to deliver or will it constantly need to play catch-up? Last night in Leixlip, the INTO claimed that 85% of primary schoolchildren in north Kildare are in excessively large classes. The Government parties have been in government for nearly ten years and these are the kinds of statistics we hear. The figures the Minister supplied to me indicate that the number of children in classes of more than 30 is increasing rather than decreasing.

Does the Minister have any radical proposals to address the issue, including, for example, implementing the recommendation of the All-Party Committee on the Constitution to compulsorily purchase land for schools at reasonable prices? Speaking before the Joint Committee on Education and Science a Department of Education and Science official stated that effectively under the current regime the Department of Education and Science is just another buyer in a buoyant market. I put it to the Minister that the Government would save money if it could acquire sites under compulsory purchase order at an early stage.

The Minister states that the school building process is being accelerated. However, we are being told that in practice it takes years to go through the Department's architectural programme and by the time the school is operational the need may be even greater, resulting in the requirement to pay for rented prefabs, which represents money that is thrown away to rich people. Does the Minister have any radical proposals to accelerate the process so that we will not find ourselves with exactly the same problem at the end of the timeframe of the national development plan?

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I too welcome Deputy Haughey as Minister of State in the Department and I wish him well in his work. I encourage the Deputies opposite to table questions for him the next time we are answering oral questions.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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As long as he is listening he is all right.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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With the range of options I have outlined, we are satisfied we can make quick progress in building the new schools, particularly in developing areas. This will require us to ensure that much of our funding goes towards those areas in coming years. Having the generic design and repeating models removes all the stages of architectural design, appointment of design teams, etc. I have already opened two gaelscoileanna, one in County Tipperary the other in County Roscommon, which were identical on the outside, but completely different inside. Both were very quickly delivered. This year alone 20 such schools will commence construction. They have removed the need for all the architectural planning which is one way of doing it quickly. The design and build option is another one that can be used for very large schools. We have a 16-classroom school in Griffeen Valley, a 24-classroom school in Diswellstown, and a new 16-classroom school is to be built at Adamstown. Rather than going to the market to build one school at a time we are bundling schools together under the design and build option. For example, the new post-primary schools for Donabate, Laytown and Phibblestown will be bundled together under one design and build contract. This will speed up delivery and will ensure the Department is not caught up in the intricacies of design, etc. That we have devolved so much responsibility for all the smaller schools is one of the key successes in ensuring so many schools have got projects. The 1,500 projects this year could not be delivered if it was all being done centrally by the Department.

On the issue of sites, our biggest demand is in the County Dublin area including Kildare and Wicklow. The Deputy started to speak about class size, I thought we were talking about classrooms.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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One cannot reduce class size unless there are classrooms for the children.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I will certainly answer in regard to class size. If anybody in this House wants to tell me that the teachers allocated to schools in the past four years, who could have gone into class size but which we choose to put into special needs and disadvantage, should not have gone there I look forward to hearing from them.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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We never said that. There is plenty of money in the kitty.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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The Minister told us that before Christmas.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is the one who talks about the hoary chestnut.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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It is not a case of either or. It is springtime and we should be helping our children.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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These are priority questions.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The schedule for teaching is going out this month. There is a further reduction in class size from this September also. In regard to sites, we reached an agreement with Fingal County Council which means we get good value in sites and in return we provide the enhanced community facilities. That is the type of model that can be used.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Can the Minister not do that everywhere without changing the law?

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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We must proceed to other questions.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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That is the type of model that is being rolled out in other counties also.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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In the meantime the children are in classrooms——

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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There is no question of class size.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There is one other issue. Some of the delays can be attributed to planning objections.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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The Chair has called Question No. 94.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It only takes one person to object for a case to go to An Bord Pleanála. That is one of the reasons for the delays.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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That is the minimum of delay.