Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important matter, which concerns Ballygarvan national school and the steps being taken by the Minister and his Department to ensure that work on the new school can commence as soon as possible. Will it be completed in September when the new school year begins? Can the Minister of State, Deputy John Moloney, confirm that the acquisition of the site has been completed by the school patron? I want to refer to the planning permission request lodged with Cork County Council by the Department of Education and Science and raise concerns I have regarding difficulties that will arise if the school is not built by September.

Ballygarvan national school has a student population of 285 and has applications from approximately 60 new pupils for next September. Eight of the existing classrooms are in prefabricated buildings and the remaining two are in a building constructed in the 1800s. Each new prefab has eaten into the playground space, which presents health and safety hazards and requires careful scheduling of play time. The school is sited on a narrow country road, with consequent traffic chaos at delivery and collection times, namely, 9 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. At these times, there is a bottleneck. It is but one example of many nationally. There was improper planning as housing estate after housing estate was built, resulting in daily gridlock as parents drive to school to pick up their children safely.

Ballygarvan was first promised a new school almost 12 years ago by the then Minister for Education, Deputy Micheál Martin. The community has grown quite significantly since then and the demands of 12 years ago have increased significantly in the interim. There have been frequent commitments since the new school was promised, particularly at election times. These have culminated in a series of announcements. Last February, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, said Ballygarvan had at last been included in the list of schools that would be constructed. An application for planning permission was submitted in August 2009 to Cork County Council and it is under consideration. Furthermore, there have been two recent requests for information from the planning authorities. If this information is not provided within six months, the planning application could fall. This would have serious implications for the scheduling and project management of the development and construction of the school. Any delay in the granting of planning permission, or in construction, will have very serious social and financial consequences. If the new school is not ready for occupation by September 2010, the parents of existing and aspiring pupils will need to be notified in the very near future.

Decisions that have to be taken in the next six to eight weeks have implications. Should the school provide for one, or more, additional classes given the number of applications it will receive and how it will deal with them? Is an additional class to be housed in a prefab at a cost of approximately €100,000? Will it be placed on top of an existing prefab? Should rental contracts for four prefabs that are due to terminate this year be renewed? Should rental of €120,000 per year be paid on the other six prefabs and the site should the contracts be renewed in 2010 and 2011? If an additional class or two is enrolled, will the Department of Education and Science meet the cost of the additional yard space and play area required?

It is understood that construction work will begin by mid-April. Is it guaranteed that the school will be ready by September? In light of the fact that the Minister's construction budget was not all spent in 2009, will the Minister of State confirm that the funding for this much-needed project has been ring-fenced and that his Department is making every effort to facilitate the completion of this project to meet the educational needs of the Ballygarvan community?

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I am responding on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the strategy for capital investment in education projects and the current position on Ballygarvan national school.

The allocation of funding for school buildings in 2010 is just under €579 million, including the carryover of €72 million deferred from 2009. This represents a significant investment in the schools building and modernisation programme. This amount of funding, at a time of great pressure on public finances, is a sign of the Government's commitment to investing in school infrastructure and will permit the continuation of the Department's programme of sustained investment in primary and post-primary schools.

With regard to Ballygarvan national school, the proposed project, to construct a new school building, was one of 25 that the Minister announced would commence architectural planning in February 2009. Since then, officials have prepared detailed drawings and the local authority facilitated a number of preplanning meetings prior to the lodgement of a planning application. Following the preplanning meetings, the Department addressed the issues raised by the local authority and submitted a planning application for the new school. The local authority subsequently issued an additional information request, which raised some new issues. The Department responded to the additional information request in full. I understand the local authority has recently issued a further additional information request raising further issues. Officials are currently preparing a response to this second additional information request.

With regard to the acquisition of the site, the Deputy may be aware that the proposed site consists of three separate pieces of land in the ownership of the Catholic diocesan authority, Cork County Council and a private landowner. The Bishop of Cork and Ross, as patron of the school, has agreed to acquire the land in the ownership of Cork County Council and the private landowner to facilitate the proposed building project.

Any decision to progress this project is contingent, among other things, on the receipt of the necessary statutory approvals and the completion by the school patron of the acquisition of the site for the proposed new school building.

A reply to the further request for information will be prepared by the Department and submitted as soon as possible. When a decision regarding planning permission is made, the Department will examine the implications for the project. The progression of the project to construction will be given further consideration at that point. The Department will continue to liaise with the patron and the school authorities regarding the proposed project.

Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Is the money safely ring-fenced?

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I do not want to mislead the Deputy and could not really answer that question. I will take it up with the Minister for Education and Science directly and revert to the Deputy within a week. I thank the Deputy again for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the current position on the school building project for Ballygarvan national school.