Áine Brady (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills. I thank Senator Coffey for the opportunity to outline to the House the Department's position relating to the application for improved accommodation from Portlaw national school, County Waterford. This school is a co-educational and fully vertical national school that operates under the patronage of the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. Based on the 2009 school returns, the school had an enrolment of 232 pupils, which represents an increase of 4% over the previous five years. The school has a core staffing level of a principal and nine mainstream teachers, as well as a number of support staff. The school also has a special class for hearing impaired pupils.

The school authority has applied to the Department for major capital funding to provide for an extension and to refurbish its existing accommodation. As the Senator will be aware, all applications for capital funding are assessed in the planning and building 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. There are four band ratings under the criteria, each of which describes the extent of accommodation required and the urgency attaching to it. Band 1 is the highest priority rating and band 4 is the lowest. Documents explaining the band rating system are available on the Department's website.

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 though the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it. As the Senator correctly stated, Portlaw national school's application was assessed and was assigned a Band rating of 1.2. The progression of all large-scale building projects, including this project, from initial design stage through to construction will be considered in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme for 2011 and subsequent years. However, in light of the competing demands on the capital budget of the Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of the project at Portlaw national school at this time.

In the meantime, however, the Department has provided funding to the school to cater for the interim accommodation needs. The school's current accommodation consists of seven permanent mainstream classrooms plus two temporary mainstream classrooms that were installed between 2006 and 2009, as well as a unit for the hearing impaired class which was installed in 2005. Under the 2010 summer works scheme, the Department approved funding for the complete replacement of windows at the school.

I again thank the Senator for raising this matter and assure him that the Department will continue to work with the school authority regarding its accommodation needs.