Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

It is always a pleasure to deal with an issue relating to Carlow. I have borrowed part of it, so the speak, for the moment. I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science for her inability to be here, but I understand she is not the only person who was to be here who is not here, and I will deal with that later.

I would like to point out that modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task given the legacy of decades of underinvestment in this important area of education, as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth such as Carlow. Nevertheless, since taking office, the Government has shown a sincere 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 and, more to point, it has allocated the necessary funding. The Government progressively increased funding for the school modernisation programme in recent years to achieve its goal with an aggregate total of almost €2 billion allocated for this purpose since 1998, the largest investment programme in the history of the State at this level of education.

Since the beginning of the year the Department of Education and Science has made a number of announcements relating to the school building and modernisation programme. This year alone, €270 million will be allocated to primary schools and €223 million to post-primary schools for building works. This represents an increase on the 2004 allocation. The list of projects approvedto date includes: 122 large-scale projects to proceed to tender and construction over a 12 to 15 month period; 97 projects under the small schools initiative; 75 projects under the permanent accommodation initiative; 140 temporary accommodation projects; 43 projects authorised to enter design phase; 741 small-scale projects under the summer works scheme; and 143 projects to progress through architectural planning. In addition, 23 new post-primary schools and four new primary schools will be provided under a major expansion of the Government's public private partnership programme 2006 to 2009.

Turning to Carlow vocational school, in common with all projects, the school's application was assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects and it was assigned a band 2 rating. The project is in the early stages of architectural planning. The answer to the question asked by Senator Browne is positive. During this process meetings were held between representatives of the County Carlow Vocational Educational Committee, the school's design team and officials in the school building section of the Department of Education and Science. The schedules of accommodation were prepared for a long-term projected enrolment of 750 pupils. The current enrolment at the school exceeds this figure. Therefore, officials in the school planning section are re-evaluating the long-term projected enrolment for the school. This re-evaluation is being carried out in the context of an overall examination of educational provision at primary and post-primary levels in Carlow town. Factors under consideration include demographic trends, current and projected enrolments, recent and planned housing developments and the capacity of existing schools to meet the demand for places.

When this examination has been completed, the Department will bring forward plans as to how best the primary and post-primary school accommodation needs of the area might be met into the future taking the proposed building project for Carlow vocational school into account. Progression of the project will be considered in the meantime in the context of the school building and modernisation programme from 2006 onwards. I apologise for the Minister not being able to be here and I thank the Senator for raising this issue.