Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I thank the Senator for raising the matter in this House as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the current position on allowing the site acquisition for a new school at Gortahork, County Donegal, to proceed to the next stage.

Modernising facilities in our existing building stock as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth is a significant challenge and one which the Minister for Education and Science intends to be one of his priorities. This Government has dramatically increased investment in the school building programme to almost €600 million this year. Under the lifetime of the national development plan almost €4.5 billion will be invested in schools. This is an unprecedented level of capital investment which reflects the commitment of the Government to continue its programme of sustained investment in primary and post-primary schools. It will underpin a particular emphasis on the delivery of additional school places in rapidly developing areas while continuing to develop on the Government's commitment to delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary accommodation throughout the country. It will enable also the purchase of sites to facilitate the smooth delivery of the school building programme, again with the focus being on site requirements in rapidly developing areas.

The Office of Public Works, OPW, which acts generally on behalf of the Department of Education and Science concerning site acquisitions for schools, was requested to source a suitable site for Gortahork national school. On foot of advertising, a number of proposals were received and one of these was identified as the preferred option. The OPW entered negotiations with the vendor for the acquisition of this site, but agreement could not be reached with the vendor on price and the OPW readvertised. On foot of readvertising a number of proposals were received, including the previous preferred option. The OPW again deemed this site to be the most suitable and entered negotiations with the vendor for its acquisition. Agreement was reached on price and the acquisition of the site is at an advanced stage.

I understand that Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher has had various meetings with the school authorities on this particular matter and has also discussed the matter directly with the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, and his predecessors outlining the urgency of the situation. The Senator will appreciate that the progression of all large-scale building projects, including this one, from initial design stage through to construction is dependent on the prioritisation of competing demands on the funding available under the Department's capital budget. In the circumstances, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of this project. I thank the Senator once again for raising this matter.