Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Wilson for providing me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position of the Department of Education and Science on the provision of a new school building for St. Killian's national school, Mullagh, County Cavan. The school is currently staffed by a principal, nine mainstream assistants, two developing post teachers, one learning support teacher and one resource teacher and has an enrolment of 292 pupils. It is proposed to construct a new 16-classroom generic repeat design primary school on a greenfield site for St. Killian's. The proposed project was included in the Department's announcement of 8 November 2006, which outlined 80 projects that had been approved to commence architectural planning. The next stage in progressing this project is the appointment of a design team.

In recent weeks, the Minister for Education and Science stated both publicly and to the Oireachtas that he is not in a position to give the go ahead for any more school building projects, including that relating to St. Killian's national school. The Minister does not wish to give a false impression to this or any other school in a similar position by making any suggestion to the contrary. He is currently in the process of reviewing, with his officials, the Department's spending plans for this year. That review will not be completed for some time and the Minister will not make any decision on further capital expenditure until the process is complete.

The progression of all large-scale building projects, including that relating to St. Killian's, 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. This project will be considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme. The Department's building programme for 2008 aims to provide sufficient school places in developing areas, while showing the Government's commitment to delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary school accommodation throughout the country.

During the lifetime of the current national development plan, almost €4.5 billion will be invested in school buildings. 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. 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 buildings, extensions or large scale refurbishment in the coming years. It builds on the delivery of 7,800 projects carried out under the previous national development plan which resulted in the construction of new school buildings and the refurbishment of many existing ones.

Capital projects under the multi-annual building programme cannot all be delivered at the same time so they are selected for inclusion under the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to projects, which indicates the urgency, type and extent of work required in schools. There are four band ratings overall — this information is also relevant in the context of the matter to which Senator Burke referred earlier — of which band 1 is the highest and band 4 the lowest. Band 1 projects include, for example, the provision of buildings where none currently exist but where there is a high demand for pupil places, while band 4 projects make provision in respect of desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities. The proposed new school building for St. Killian's has been assigned a band rating of 1.1, which is almost the highest that can be achieved.

I give the assurance that the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is committed to providing suitable high-quality accommodation for St. Killian's national school at the earliest possible date. However, in light of tight economic circumstances and with competing demands on the capital budget of the Department it is not possible to give an indicative time frame for the progression of the project. I assure the Senator, however, that the Minister is as keen as the school community to progress the project as soon as the necessary funding becomes available.

The band rating of 1.1 should offer some reassurance to all concerned. However, the straitened economic circumstances in which we find ourselves have led the Minister to conduct a thorough review of spending in the context of the capital funding available to him. I suspect he will clarify the position in September.