Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

At the outset, I wish to thank Senator Fitzgerald for raising the matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the position regarding the delivery of the proposed second level school for south Lucan.

As I have already mentioned, in the lifetime of the national development plan, almost €4.5 billion will be invested in schools. This is an unprecedented level of capital investment that reflects the commitment of the Government to continue its programme of sustained investment in primary and post-primary schools. This investment will facilitate the provision of new schools and extensions in developing areas and the improvement of existing schools through the provision of replacement schools, extensions or large-scale refurbishments over the next number of years.

Turning to the specific matter in hand, based on current demographic trends my Department anticipates that there will be a need for a further post-primary school in Lucan in the medium term and we have asked South Dublin County Council to identify a site for this development as part of the Clonburris local area development plan. A timeframe for the delivery of the school will be known when a suitable site has been identified and acquired by my Department. Once a suitable site is acquired my Department will progress the project to ensure the earliest possible delivery of this school. In the meantime, my Department has increased capacity at the four existing post-primary schools to 3,000 places. The current combined enrolment is 2,500, which means that there is spare capacity for some 500 pupil places.

A building project which is in train for Lucan Community College will further increase capacity by 200 pupil places. In addition to this, a building project for St. Joseph's College has been assessed and the project brief, which will provide an additional 200 places, has been agreed.

The combined total of extra places that will be available when these projects are completed will be 900, which is the equivalent of a post-primary school in its own right. These measures will assist in reducing pressure for pupil places in the short to medium term while the process of advancing the project for a new school continues.

I again thank the Senator for raising this matter and for allowing me to outline the progress being made under the school building and modernisation programme and the position in regard to the delivery of the proposed second level school for south Lucan.