Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I wish to speak about the urgent need for the Minister for Education and Science to address the serious delay in granting St. Mary's community school, Buttevant, County Cork, permission to build a new school to provide for an increase in student population after ten years delay. This is a major issue that I have been raising for some time.

The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, must expedite this decision by notifying the County Cork Vocational Education Committee of her approval for the new school. She must also make a public statement indicating that she has done so to assure increasingly disillusioned and frustrated people who have been waiting for movement on this important issue since 1997.

Hitherto, when I have attempted to raise this matter by way of a Dáil question or by seeking a special debate, I have been informed by the Minister that the progress of the project will be considered in the context of her Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme. However, like so many other school programmes, this programme is insufficient to meet the needs of St. Mary's community school and full funding must be granted for the new facilities that are required.

The population of north Cork in particular is growing at an astonishing rate. Increasing pressure is being placed on all public services, but especially on our schools, our hospitals and our transport infrastructure. It is not just Dublin and its expanding commuter belt that is experiencing such problems. For many years the failure to provide new school buildings and school places has been a major issue for Buttevant and the surrounding area. Buttevant already has a secondary school but, in the past ten years, it has had to make do with the existing building. Long-promised new facilities, such as a new school for St. Mary's, will be insufficient to meet the needs of the local community by the time they are delivered.

The Minister must act now. I am not prepared to listen to the same old excuses and for the project to be put on the long finger once again.

Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects.

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

Under the National Development Plan 2007-2013, funding of €4.5 billion will be invested in the first and second level schools modernisation and development programme. This unprecedented level of investment will allow us to meet the needs of a growing school population, to modernise existing school facilities and to provide for curriculum reform and innovation.

Turning to the specific matter in hand, St. Mary's community college is the only post-primary school in Buttevant and is a co-educational provider with a current enrolment of 186 mainstream pupils. Originally, County Cork VEC applied to the school planning section of the Department of Education and Science for funding towards the provision of a new school building on a greenfield site for St. Mary's community college. The proposed new school building was to cater for a long-term projected enrolment of 325 pupils and the project reached an early stage of architectural planning in 2001. At that time, the VEC identified a site for the new school and paid a deposit. The site acquisition was not finalised for a number of reasons and the vendors returned the deposit.

In light of declining enrolments at the school, the school planning section of the Department carried out a review of second level education provision in the area in consultation with the school authority. This review took into account factors such as enrolment trends at the school, the impact of projected housing developments and the existing school provision in the general area. On completion of this review, the Department's initial decision to provide a new school on a greenfield site in Buttevant was confirmed and officials in the school planning section are currently finalising the long-term projected enrolment for this project.

Approval was given to County Cork VEC to identify a suitable site for the project and a site has now been acquired for that purpose. The building project required to deliver the new accommodation will be considered in the context of the multi-annual school building and modernisation programme.

Once again, I thank the Deputy for raising this matter which allows me the opportunity to outline the position of St. Mary's community college.