Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Seanad Éireann" and substitute the following:

acknowledges that

under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, funding of €2.6 billion delivered more than 7,800 school building projects;

€4.5 billion is to be invested in the school building and modernisation programme under the current NDP;

all applications for large scale school building and modernisation projects are assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria implemented following consultation with the education partners;

innovations have been introduced in the design and management processes for school building projects to improve value for money;

the use of energy efficient designs has ensured that modern day schools are typically using three times less energy than schools built ten years ago and also using less than half the energy than what is termed as good international practice for schools;

the Department of Education and Science and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government are working together to improve future planning for schools; and

the Developing Areas and Forward Planning units in the Department of Education are proactively planning for future school accommodation needs and are sourcing a Geographic Information System to assist with determining the location and planning of school accommodation;

and calls on the Government to

continue to both meet the need for new schools and extensions in developing areas and fund refurbishment of existing schools all over the country;

ensure that significant new residential developments are not approved by local authorities without proper provision for additional school places as required;

continue to improve the information systems used by the building unit of the Department of Education and Science; and

prioritise further value for money improvements.

Senator Ross said he does not like the Government amendment and that we are boasting about what we are doing. The amendment does not boast but gives the facts on what is being done. On many occasions listening to Members, one would think the door had closed in the Department of Education and Science and nothing was being done. Given that €4.5 billion is to be invested in the school modernisation and building programme under the current NDP, investment has far from stopped.

On "Morning Ireland" this morning I heard about a school in need of a new building. I do not know the individual case but what I took from the piece was that a new school was needed because three resource teachers were coming in to teach but there was only a spare toilet in which to teach pupils. The main part of our problem is that we are resourcing schools better than we have done in the past, although more resources are always needed. If extra people were not coming into the schools, would we need the building programme?

In many respects, it is very hard to gauge what a school's needs will be. In my constituency, there was a terrible row about a particular school which needed two extra classrooms. There were protests, the school was closed and much political pressure was applied. Given the political pressure, the school got the two extra classrooms, although whether that would happen under the current regime is another question. The school now has two empty classrooms because the population in the area decreased rapidly. There was no collaboration with the local council, for which our amendment provides. Those involved should work with the council to anticipate the needs of an area, for example, to ensure the council is encouraged to locate new housing developments in areas where there are schools to sustain the population, especially in rural areas. In the case to which I referred, the council was not locating new housing developments, with the result that the opposite of what I know Senator Healy-Eames will speak of happened, that is, the influx of——