Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important matter.

I refer to the Abbey School in Tipperary town, an excellent school with a great history. It is a great sporting school which has won many cups throughout its long history and contributed a great deal to the well-being of many pupils in the entire Tipperary area.

The school applied for funding for a physical education hall in 1989. Nineteen years later it is still waiting for that funding. I would like clarification on the band rating, which I understand was changed. In May 2007 the school had a band 4 rating but I understand in April of that year it had a band 2 rating. I would like clarification on that.

I welcome the recent announcement of the many school projects throughout the country, but there was no mention of any funding for PE halls. In 2001 the then Minister for Education and Science told us that the Department was preparing PE hall templates that would standardise the construction of PE halls at second level, that those templates were being piloted in four schools initially and that it was anticipated that the templates would be available for generic use later in the year. In May 2005, the current Minister stated that those designs will speed up the delivery of PE halls and significantly reduce design costs.

It emerged less than 12 months ago that Irish schools are ranked close to the bottom of a European Union league table for the provision of physical education classes. Senior cycle students often go without PE classes. Some schools must split PE classes, which is largely a waste of time. As we all are aware, the cost of that neglect on our health system is huge. The level of obesity in Ireland has doubled in the past decade. One in eight Irish people has been identified as being obese.

PE halls are needed throughout the country. My aim in raising this matter is to establish the current position regarding the Abbey School in Tipperary town. I hope the Minister of State will have good news.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Tom Hayes for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline to the House, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and the current position regarding the Abbey School, Tipperary town.

Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 731 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, the Government has shown a consistent determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

The Government has dramatically increased investment in the school building programme from just over €90 million in 1997 to approximately €600 million this year. Within the timespan 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.

At second level, it is the policy of the Department of Education and Science to provide a PE hall to a school that does not already have such a facility. This is considered as part of the design brief for new schools, and major renovation of existing schools, within available resources and overall published criteria for prioritising projects. The physical education curricula at primary and second level have been developed on the understanding that facilities available to schools vary. Consequently, they offer a level of flexibility that allows each school to tailor its programme to the facilities available. The number of schools with general purpose rooms and PE halls is increasing all the time, while practically all schools have outside exercise space. In addition, many schools use adjacent local facilities, including public parks, playing fields and swimming pools. The facilities schools have on site is just part of the picture as schools may also have access to excellent local sports facilities which have been greatly expanded and improved through funding from the Government's sports capital programme in recent years.

Turning to the specific matter of interest to Deputy Tom Hayes, Abbey School is a co-educational voluntary secondary school located in Tipperary town. The school had an enrolment of 439 students in September 2006 and enrolments in the school generally have been stable over the past five years.

The school originally submitted an application for major capital funding in 1998 for a PE hall and refurbishment of existing accommodation. Tenders for the refurbishment project were approved in 2002 totalling approximately €850,000 while the PE hall application was put on hold pending the delivery of the Department's template design for PE halls. The school looked to have the PE hall application re-activated in 2002, but the project did not proceed at that time owing to competing priorities within the capital programme. The school submitted a revised application in April of 2007 for a PE hall only. The application has been assigned a band 4 rating according to the published prioritisation criteria and will be considered in the context of the multi-annual school building and modernisation programme.

I thank the Deputy for affording me the opportunity to outline the current position on the provision of a PE hall at Abbey School, Tipperary town.