John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I apologise to Senator Hannigan that the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science cannot be present to take this matter. I am happy to do so on her behalf. I thank the Senator for raising the matter because it provides me with the opportunity to outline the current position in respect of an application for funding for a physical education, PE, hall at Ashbourne community school, County Meath.

Ashbourne community school is a co-educational post-primary school, with a current enrolment of 1,005 pupils. The school authority submitted an application to the Department for large-scale capital funding for a PE hall. As the Senator will be aware, all applications for capital funding are assessed in the planning and building unit of the Department of Education and Science against published prioritisation criteria. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners. As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating. 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 projects.

There are four band ratings in all. Of these, band 1 is the highest and band 4 is 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. A band 4 project makes provision in respect of desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities. Each band rating has a number of sub-categories which more specifically describe the type of works needed and the urgency attaching to them. The rating attaching to the PE hall project for Ashbourne is band 4.

Subsequent to its original application, the school authority submitted a proposal to the Department for a co-funded project to build a PE hall. The Department approved the scope of the project put forward in the proposal. It also approved funding towards the cost of providing the project on the basis the school had undertaken to meet the balance through various other funding sources, such as the national lottery, capital sports grants and local contributors.

Recently, the school revised the scope of the project and it is now seeking considerable additional funding to meet the costs of its revised plans and because funding from some of its other sources is no longer guaranteed. The revised application is currently being examined by the Department's professional and technical staff and a report is expected from them shortly. Following an examination of this report by the Department's planning and building unit, a decision will be conveyed to the school authority.

I again thank Senator Hannigan for raising this matter and for affording me the opportunity to outline the position in respect of it.