Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for selecting this matter. I had hoped it would not need to be selected, as I had been anticipating an announcement a fortnight ago as regards this primary school. I have put this matter on the record of the Dáil before, but I shall give some of the facts again.

On 29 November 2006 the Minister announced details of 54 major primary school building projects. She promised they would be able to proceed to tender and construction stage and many of them would be built over the next 12 to 15 months. That announcement was made on 29 November 2006, before the general election. The election was held in May last year. Two years after this announcement there is no sign of this school.

Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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It was announced in November 2006 and it is now February 2008.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It was November 2006 and we are now in 2008. If people cannot add in Meath, we can in Mayo.

This was one of the biggest political ploys that the Government has ever pulled.

Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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That is just a year and two months.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I hope the Minister of State has positive news. Since the Minister of State has interrupted, I would have expected someone from the Department of Education and Science rather than the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to have replied to this debate. It is an insult to me and to the House. I saw the Minister leaving. We have 22 Ministers of State so why can a Minister from the Department of Education and Science not answer my question? This is the third time I have put it down for the Adjournment debate and I was hoping we would have an announcement.

There is a major problem with schools in Dublin but the west is being left behind because this school project was ready to go to tender. The children have to vacate their building by June this year. This is the third time they have moved. The project is through the planning stage and we thought there would have been an statement a week or ten days ago, when the Minister was announcing the school programme. It has not been announced and I want to know why. When will the announcement be made and when will the project go to tender so that it can be built and the pupils will no longer be in rented accommodation? As I have said, there have been three moves already. I want to know what is going on in the Department of Education and Science. It is ridiculous that these projects take so long to progress from stage to stage in 2008.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle has served as a Minister. Why have Ministers not taken control of the Department of Education and Science? Why does it take so many stages and so long in Tullamore and elsewhere to build a school? In 1995 the Leas-Cheann Comhairle was part of a Government in which I was a backbencher. In that year there was a case involving school which was infested with rats. Within a year work on the school was completed because the matter was pushed through every stage. I would prefer to see 30 schools announced for one year and built within that timeframe or soon afterwards instead of this stage by stage system. Teachers, pupils and parents are frustrated, as am I, because this is the third time I have tabled this matter on the Adjournment.

What is happening in the Department of Education and Science and when will the announcement be made so that we may know whether this project is going ahead?

Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise for interrupting the Deputy, but I want to clarify that 29 November 2006 was just a year and two months ago. I shall endeavour to clarify where we have come from as regards this project.

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity of outlining to the House the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding the provision of new premises for the school in question. It is proposed to build a new ten-classroom school based on an existing design that was previously used in the provision of a school elsewhere. Initially there were problems with the site acquisition and this delayed the progress of the project in applying for planning permission. Planning permission and a fire certificate has now been obtained and the tender documentation is currently being finalised.

Under the national development plan there is €4.5 billion assigned to the capital requirements of the primary and post-primary sectors. Just under €600 million will be spent this year on school buildings. The progression of all large-scale building projects from initial design stage through to construction phase is considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme in which the main focus is to deliver school places within rapidly developing areas. The progression of the school in question, as with all large-scale projects, will be considered in this context.

Last week, as the Deputy said, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, announced the details of the large-scale building projects to commence construction over the next number of months. It is the Minister's intention to make a further announcement after Easter to allow a further batch of schools to commence construction and to update progress on the new schools planned for delivery in September 2008 in developing areas.

I would like to give the assurance that the Minister and her Department are committed to providing suitable, high-quality accommodation for the school referred to by the Deputy at the earliest possible date.