Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister to the House. I hope he uses his high office to extend this communiqué to his colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to whom I have spoken off the record on this matter.

This is not a new issue. The secretary general of the INTO, John Carr, who is also a native of Donegal, recently wrote an article on the challenges we are facing with regard to student capacity within the primary school sector in the greater Letterkenny area. Letterkenny is establishing itself as a gateway town under the gateway status initiative in conjunction with Derry. If we are to consider our spatial strategy in any comprehensive and methodical way we should critically examine what has happened in Letterkenny in terms of demographics and population growth in recent years.

While I acknowledge the fact that many schools in Letterkenny, such as Ballyraine national school, benefited from recent infrastructural investment, other schools are still in need of significant investment and extension. In particular, I mention two schools, St. Colmcille's boys' school and Lurgybrack national school. These schools are coming under increasing pressures and I could list the reasons for this all night. They include inward migration from other parts of Donegal where people had difficulty obtaining planning permission and were restricted from building in their own rural areas.

We are looking at an ever-expanding younger generation. At St. Colmcille's boys' school, 63 students have come forward for enrolment this year. The school faces another year in the unfortunate position of having to turn away students. It has a history of appeals and a tradition of facilitating as many people as possible. However, the capacity is not there.

Letterkenny was the fastest growing town in Europe until recent years. The greater Letterkenny area has a population of approximately 20,000 and we need infrastructure. This highlights another part of the challenge we face as a country. We do not necessarily have an east coast urban problem. Various parts of the island have the same population pressures as the east coast. I refer to a research proposal at DIT which suggested that in 20, 40 or 50 years' time the balance will be between an urban east coast and a rural west coast. I can tell the Minister this is not the case. Donegal, and Letterkenny in particular, is situated 20 miles from Derry, the fourth largest city in Ireland. Derry city has an urban sprawl and Letterkenny caters for students originally from Derry. Within the greater Letterkenny area we also have integration and a social mix for which we must cater.

Will the Minister speak to his colleague? I know in his reply he will speak about projection appraisals and evaluations of population density. The schools have provided their own analysis and produced their own projections. They are there in black and white. These schools are not in a position to cope with added pressures. They do not want to turn away students and they want to carry on in the manner they have for generations.

The Minister is in the Cabinet. Today, it was stated that capital projects will not be affected by any measures being introduced. This commitment must be extended to the Department of Education and Science. I hear there is little money for capital projects. In the economic circumstances we face we must use imagination and creativity to cater for students being turned away from schools against the wishes of principals and boards of management.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity of outlining to the House the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding primary school provision in Letterkenny, County Donegal. The Department's school building programme in 2008 aims to provide sufficient school places in developing areas, while also showing the Government's commitment to delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary school accommodation throughout the country. During the lifetime of the national development plan, approximately €4.5 billion will be invested in school buildings. 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 investment will facilitate the provision of new schools and extensions in developing areas and the improvement of existing schools through the provision of replacement schools, extensions or large-scale refurbishments in the coming years. It builds on the delivery of 7,800 building projects under the previous national development plan which resulted in new schools being built and the refurbishment of many existing schools.

Capital projects under the multi-annual building programme cannot all be delivered together and they are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project, which indicates the urgency, type and extent of work required at a school. There are four bands overall, of which band one is the highest and band four the lowest. Band one projects include, for example, the provision of buildings where none exist but where there is a high demand for pupil places, while a band four project makes provision of desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities, such as a library or new sports hall.

The forward planning section of the Department is in the process of identifying the areas where significant additional accommodation will be required at primary and post-primary level for 2009 and onwards. This work will be done in consultation with local authorities. The Department is included among the prescribed authorities to which local authorities are statutorily obliged to send draft development plans or proposed variations to development plans. As a matter of course, there is on-going liaison with local authorities to establish the location, scale and pace of any major proposed developments and their possible implications for school provision. In addition, the Department planning process utilises census data and school enrolment trends.

The Department is aware that the latest publication by the Central Statistics Office on population and labour force projections indicates that the population aged five to 12 years is projected to increase by at least 10% in the next decade. This will happen even with zero net migration and falling fertility rates. Depending on the extent of inward migration, the increase could be even greater. Meeting the demand for school places arising from these increases will in be a major challenge for the Department and for the State. Therefore, when examining accommodation requirements for an area such as Letterkenny, factors under consideration include population growth, demographic trends, current and projected enrolments, recent and planned housing developments and capacity of existing schools to meet demand for places. Having considered these factors, decisions will be taken on the means by which emerging needs will be met within an area.