Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to this House the current position with regard to the proposed building project for St. Angela's school, St. Patrick's Hill, Cork city.

First, all applications for capital funding are assessed in the modernisation and policy unit of the Department. The assessment process determines the extent and type of need presenting based on the demographics of an area, proposed housing developments, condition of buildings, site capacity, etc. leading ultimately to an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners.

Projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project. In other words, a proposed building project moves through the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it. There are four band ratings overall, of which band one is the highest and band four the lowest. Band one projects, for example, include the provision of buildings where none currently exists but there is a high demand for pupil places for typically rapidly developing areas, while a band four project provides desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities. Each band rating has a number of sub-categories, which more specifically describes the type of works needed and the urgency attaching to them.

St. Angela's school is an all girls post primary school with a current enrolment of 524 pupils. Enrolments at the school have remained stable over the past five years. The extension-refurbishment project proposed for the school is at the early stages of architectural planning. Consistent with the approach I have outlined, the application was assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects and it has been assigned a band 2.1 rating. This reflects the fact that there is a deficit of accommodation, which represents a substantial or significant proportion of the school's overall accommodation needs. It also reflects the fact that an extensive refurbishment is needed.

The Department requested the design team to complete a schedule of accommodation based on 500 pupils giving consideration to the following: using the existing school building and site only; and using the existing school building and site and the St. Angela's Convent building and grounds. The design team concluded that to provide accommodation for a 500-pupil school, the convent building and grounds will be needed. The order is prepared to sell these to the Department to facilitate the expansion of the school on its current site. The order is also prepared to cede the current school building and site to the Department.

Owing to the level of demand on the Department's capital budget, it is not possible to provide an indicative timeframe as to when the site and building purchase can be made. As with all large-scale capital projects, the progression of this project from site acquisition and initial design stage through to construction phase will be considered in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme.

The allocation for school buildings in 2009 is €581 million, which represents a significant investment in the school building and modernisation programme. This level of funding, at a time of great pressure on the public finances, is a sign of the Government's real commitment to investing in school infrastructure and it will permit the continuation of the enormous progress made under the last national development plan when more than 7,800 school building projects were completed. The Government is looking forward to building on this progress with an unprecedented allocation of €4.5 billion under the current national development plan.

I thank Senator Buttimer again for raising this matter and assure him that progress on the proposed project for St. Angela's will be made commensurate with the priority attaching to it and as soon as the requisite funding is available. As I am anxious to get to the Dáil in time for the division, I will talk to the Senator subsequently if he has supplementary questions.