Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

On behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, I thank Senator O'Rourke for raising this matter. I will reply in her absence.

At the outset, modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task given the legacy of decades of under-investment in this area, as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless, since taking office, this Government has shown a sincere determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and ensure that appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

In this regard this Government invested in the largest school building programme in the history of the State. Between 1998 and the end of 2004, approximately €2 billion was invested in school buildings and in the region of 7,500 large and small projects were completed in schools, including 130 brand new schools and 510 large-scale refurbishments and extensions. Funding for school building and renovation projects has increased five-fold since 1997. In 2006, €491 million will be spent on school building projects, compared with just €92 million in 1997. The 2006 allocation is, in its own right, an increase of over 9% in real terms on the 2005 allocation.

As Senator O'Rourke will be aware, at the end of last year the Department of Education and Science outlined its spending plans for primary and post-primary schools for 2006. With €491 million to be spent on school buildings, more than 1,300 projects will be active in schools all over the country. This significant investment will allow the Department to continue to progress its major programme of school building and modernisation which includes improving equipment needed for new technologies and ICT.

The Senator may also be aware that, from a planning perspective, the school planning section of the Department has introduced a new planning model for educational infrastructure to ensure that, in future, school provision will be decided only after a transparent consultation process. In this regard, trustees, parents, sponsors of prospective schools and all interested parties from a locality will have the opportunity to have their voices heard in the process.

The main feature of the new model, being introduced initially on a pilot basis in five specific areas, is the publication of an area development plan, which will set out a blueprint for future education infrastructure in the particular area. Draft area development plans provide details of existing primary and post primary provision; an examination of the demographics of the area; commentary on the data; and recommendations for the area into the future. Following publication of each draft area development plan, the Commission on School Accommodation conducts a public engagement process to which all interested parties can make submissions. All of these submissions are published. The process in each case culminates in the publication of a final area development plan against which all capital funding decisions will be made over the next decade.

One of the areas chosen for the pilot project was the N4-M4 corridor running from Leixlip to Kilbeggan and I am pleased to inform the House that the entire process through to publication of the report of the Commission on School Accommodation has been completed for this area. In its report, the commission recommends that Meánscoil an Chlochair, Kilbeggan, be relocated to a greenfield site and that it should cater for 500 to 550 students. It further recommends that a strict enrolment policy should be in place to ensure that priority is given to students within the catchment area.

While the report in itself forms a vital framework in which future decisions about school planning in an area will be made, it is important to understand that all of the recommendations are subject to the normal processes which apply when progressing large-scale building projects and that progress on projects themselves is subject to the published prioritisation criteria applicable to all large scale projects throughout the country.

The next step for the proposed project in Kilbeggan is an architectural assessment of the existing accommodation to ascertain whether there may be a more cost-effective solution to the school's accommodation needs in the interests of obtaining value for taxpayers' money. This is standard practice for all large-scale projects. This assessment will be arranged in the context of other competing priorities under the Department's capital programme. When a decision has been taken as to how best the needs of the school can be met, the project will then be considered for inclusion in a capital programme. I thank the Senator once again for affording me the opportunity to outline to the House the current position in this case and the process which the school can expect to ensue as its project moves forward to delivery.