Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the strategy of the Department of Education and Science for capital investment in educational projects and to outline the position regarding the application received by the Department for additional accommodation at Abbey national school, Abbey, Loughrea, County Galway.

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 area as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless since taking office, the Government has shown a sincere determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and ensure the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum. We have progressively increased funding for the schools building and modernisation programme in recent years to achieve our 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. As evidence of this ongoing commitment there will be 1,300 building and modernisation projects active in our primary and post-primary schools during 2006. Over €490 million is being spent on the primary and post-primary projects throughout the country.

The Schools Building and Modernisation Programme 2006-2010 is underpinned not just by a significant increase in overall funding but also by major improvements in the administration of the funding. Devolving more funding to local level through the summer works scheme and the smaller rural schools scheme will allow schools to move ahead much more quickly with smaller projects while also delivering better value for money.

Abbey national school is a co-educational primary school with a current staffing of a principal plus one mainstream teacher and one shared learning support-resource teacher, and one shared resource teacher. Enrolments at the school have increased in recent years from 25 pupils in 2000 to 32 pupils in September 2005. The school's application for extension and refurbishment is being considered in the context of the Schools Building and Modernisation Programme 2006-2010. Already this year, the Minister for Education and Science has made a number of announcements on the schools building programme for 2006 and will be making further announcements in this regard over the coming months.

As Senator Burke said, I served as principal in the school more than 30 years ago and I am very familiar with the building, which has not changed a great deal during that time. I will certainly raise the matter on his behalf and on behalf of the school community with the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, and the Minister of State, Deputy de Valera. I congratulate Senator Burke and his community on their success in the Tidy Towns competition. I am well aware of the pride of place in Abbey and I congratulate the Senator for that.

I thank the Senator for giving me this opportunity to outline to the House the position regarding Abbey national school and assure the House that this school and all others will be treated in a fair and equitable manner.