Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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The recent and impending cuts in the education field are of concern to everybody on both sides of this House. In this case it is encouraging that there is a potential solution on the horizon. I wanted to bring this matter to the House and put it on the record. I intend to speak to the Minister directly in the coming weeks.

There is a profound and severe lack of primary school places in the Donnybrook parish area. There is huge pressure on St. Mary's national school, which is located on Belmont Avenue, for a number of reasons. I understand in the current school year some 60 pupils were turned away - they were just the ones who went to the bother of applying for a place. It is well known in the area that there is major pressure for places for junior infants on the school. The reason is that a school in Miltown was closed due to the sale of institutional lands there. There is no English-speaking primary school within the parish of Beechwood, so there is major pressure from neighbouring parishes to access places in St. Mary's school.

It is an excellent school of the highest possible quality, with excellent teaching staff and very encouraging results, but there is huge pressure on it. There is an onus on the Department of Education and Science to find a solution, that is, an alternative site for the school. It has been sanctioned for an upgrade, although I do not know if the funding for it will come down the track. An extension was sanctioned for the school to be built upwards as the existing site is inadequate and cannot be expanded in terms of square footage. However, that is currently parked.

Even if it were to go ahead, it is not a satisfactory solution because there is no space to expand the play area. The idea of accepting additional students to school which does not have the facilities to accommodate them is not a realistic solution. However, there is a potential solution. RTE has a massive site comprising 32 acres in Donnybrook and is currently proposing that Dublin City Council agree to rezone the site from Z15 for institutional use to Z10, a much broader use, to enable it to develop its lands and allow for the development of commercial, retail and residential units on the site.

There is an opportunity because RTE is very keen to develop the site and there seems to be a willingness from it to entertain the idea of giving something back to community. There is not only a willingness and a preparedness to do that, but there is also an obligation under the Planning Acts that there be community gain through the process of any such development. In this area the form of community gain, which would be recognised as essential by all parties and almost all of the local residents, would be a school, which is a top priority. This is not something which has been proposed by parents of children in the school but by all generations, young and old. Everybody identifies this as a real crisis issue for the area and one for which there is a potential solution at hand.

There is an obligation for community gain. Having had discussions directly with RTE and the city councillors for the area, I found there is a willingness to examine the proposal. We now need some sort of action. The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy O'Keeffe, has a very important role in recognising that there is an opportunity to secure a site for the area and there is a need for him to be proactive, creative and seek a solution to the problem and challenges which face the area in terms of the primary school. The opportunity presents itself in terms of RTE and the onus is now on the Department of Education and Science and the Minister for Education and Science to be proactive in the area and speak with RTE. The barriers between Departments should not be allowed to cause an unnecessary blockage in the system.

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I recognise the Deputy's involvement in progressing the site identified in advance of coming into the House. I am happy to respond on behalf the Minister, Deputy O'Keeffe, and I want to thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It gives me the opportunity to outline to the Dáil the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the current position in regard to the school referred to by Deputy Creighton, namely, St. Mary's national school, Donnybrook, roll number 19727G. Modernising facilities in the Department's existing building stock as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth are significant challenges. The Government has shown a consistent 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.

The forward planning section of the Department of Education and Science has carried out a study of the country to identify the areas where, due to demographic changes, there may be a requirement for significant additional school provision at primary and post-primary levels over the coming years. This study has been conducted using data from the Central Statistics Office, the General Register Office and the Department of Social and Family Affairs in addition to recent schools' enrolment data. The study indicates that the requirement for additional primary provision in 2010, 2011 and 2012 is likely to be greatest in more than 43 selected locations across the country, based on significant changes to the demographic profile of those areas. This information has been circulated to all existing school patrons who have been invited to bring forward proposals for the expansion of existing schools or indeed to put themselves forward as patron for any new primary school, should it be required.

The requirement for the establishment of new schools will of course be lessened where it is possible to expand and extend existing schools in those areas. The forward planning section of the Department is in the process of carrying out an analysis of each location to identify the school accommodation requirements up to and including the school year for 2014 to 2015. When the required reports have been completed for these initial areas selected, the forward planning section will continue to work on preparing reports on a priority basis for the remainder of the country which will include the Montrose and Donnybrook area.

Currently the school referred to by Deputy Creighton has a project in architectural planning to extend and refurbish the existing school on Belmont Avenue. The refurbishment project has been assigned a band 2.1 rating. This project is at an early stage of architectural planning and additional information to the addendum of the first stage submission is currently awaited from the design team.

Some 256 pupils are enrolled at St. Mary's national school. The school has eight classes, two of which are based in prefabricated classrooms. When the current project has been completed, the school will have nine mainstream classrooms. The brief for the project includes the conversion of some existing classrooms to ancillary accommodation and their replacement with four new full-size classrooms which will be provided as additional accommodation. A degree of additional ancillary accommodation will also be provided. The Minister met a delegation from the board of management of the school, including its chairperson and its principal, on Tuesday of this week. At the meeting, the school authorities informed the Minister of their tentative exploration of the possibility of acquiring a site within RTE's Montrose campus for the development of a new school. This was the first time such a proposal was brought to the attention of the Minister or the Department. The representatives of the school were at pains to stress that it is a tentative prospect at best. Indeed, the proposal from the RTE Authority to seek rezoning of the Montrose site is at an early stage. The school authorities clearly stated that their priority is to make progress with the refurbishment project on the existing site. They added that they do not wish to follow a dual-track approach that might cause the project to be delayed. As the meeting concluded, the school authorities once more expressed their clear commitment to pursuing the refurbishment project at the existing school site. I thank Deputy Creighton for giving me an opportunity to outline to the House the current position with regard to the building project at St. Mary's national school in Donnybrook.