Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Acting Chairman and the Ceann Comhairle's office for giving me the opportunity to raise this important matter for Dublin South-West. I appreciate the attendance of the Minister of State, Deputy Wallace, at this late hour.

In my constituency, Templeogue in particular, there is a considerable degree of disappointment concerning the manner in which the Department of Education and Science has dealt with this issue for some time. Our Lady's school in Templeogue serves a student population of approximately 730. A substantial number of communities in the area — Knocklyon, Terenure, Walkinstown, Greenhills, Firhouse and Tallaght — send young women to that distinguished school, which has waited patiently for a green light from the Department in respect of a proposed extension. The proposal has been on the desk of the Minister for Education and Science for the past eight years. The school was given a firm indication that a decision to allow it to commence extension work would be made in June. Unfortunately, the decision has been stalled and placed to one side.

This matter is of significant concern in the local community and the school's catchment area. By raising this issue, I wish to highlight the community's deep frustration with the fact that a project that has been a matter for the Department for nearly a decade is still waiting to proceed to full construction stage. We want an early decision to ensure that we can proceed. Approximately €500,000 has been spent by the school in consultancy fees, planning fees and so on to bring the proposal to fruition. It is an example of a school that has waited for the Department's green light for too long.

What is involved in the proposal? The extension comprises four general classrooms, two lecture rooms, one learning support room, two science laboratories and preparatory areas, two arts and crafts rooms, two home economics rooms, one technological room, one woodwork, machining and preparatory room, one deputy principal's office, six pastoral offices, etc. It is not an add-on. Rather, it is the essential infrastructure expected of any school the size of Our Lady's school in 2008 and 2009.

It is a matter of deep frustration for the school authorities and parents that the decision to proceed to construction in June has been stalled under the school building and modernisation programme. Last week, the Minister for Education and Science told the House he expects to make a decision on the next phase of the schools building programme in September. I urge the Minister of State and her Department to ensure that Our Lady's school in Templeogue is a central part of that announcement so the school authorities can be allowed to proceed with their plans which are not extensive but are plans that deliberately aimed at providing the kind of modern, updated school infrastructure one would expect of a school of this size. I await the Minister's reply and I speak on behalf of the 730 students in the school and their families who expect their Government to respond to this issue.

Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for providing us with the opportunity to outline to the House the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding the proposed building project for Our Lady's school in Templeogue Road, Dublin.

This school is an all-girls' post-primary school with a current enrolment of 708 pupils. The Department intends to refurbish the school and to extend it to cater for a long-term projected enrolment of 800 pupils.

As the Minister for Education and Science has explained to the House previously, all applications for large scale capital funding are assessed in the Department against published prioritisation criteria. Each project is assigned a band rating under these criteria which reflects the type of works required and the urgency attaching to them. A band rating of 2.4 has been assigned to the project for Our Lady's school which reflects the fact that the building needs refurbishment and that while it has an accommodation deficit this is not as substantial as higher band-rated projects.

The project for Our Lady's school was listed on the 2007 school building programme to proceed to tender and construction. It is currently at stage 4-5 of architectural planning which means that planning permission has been granted and tender documents have been prepared. The next stage would be to allow the project to proceed to tender.

Unfortunately the Minister is not in a position to give the go-ahead for any more school building projects, including that for Our Lady's school, at the present time. Indeed, as he has previously said, he will not be making any decision on further capital expenditure until he has completed a review of the Department's spending plans for 2008. This process is currently under way and the Minister expects it will take a number of months to complete.

The Minister understands that some schools will be disappointed that their projects will not be proceeding as quickly as they might have hoped but, it would be disingenuous to create an impression to the contrary.

The Deputy will appreciate that the Minister has to manage his Department's capital budget in a responsible manner and in so doing must ensure that funding is targeted at the schools most in need. This is the reason the Department introduced prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects, which were formulated following consultation with the education partners.

Thousands of building projects were carried out under the last national development plan, providing new and modernised educational infrastructure and thousands more will be carried out under the new NDP. However, there has to be an order as to how this happens and a realisation that not all building projects can proceed at the same time.

The extent of the demand on the capital budget is enormous providing as it does, accommodation for new communities together with accommodation for the unprecedented number of extra teachers which the Government has put into the system. The Department has also carried out substantial and major improvement works to hundreds of schools throughout the country, in an effort to address the historic under-investment in school buildings and this process will continue.

This cannot be achieved overnight——

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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That is certainly the case.

Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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——but we have made significant inroads and we will continue to build on the success achieved under the last NDP when we delivered over 7,800 building projects. This must be done in an orderly and planned manner and on the basis of the most pressing needs. Projects will be advanced incrementally over time, consistent with the priority attaching to them. This approach is critical to ensuring that schools know that their individual projects will be allowed to proceed, in order of priority, as and when the funding situation allows. This approach will apply to the building project for Our Lady's school under the Department's school building and modernisation programme.

I thank Deputy Hayes for giving us the opportunity to outline the current position and to reassure the House of the Minister's commitment to this project.