Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Coughlan, who, unfortunately, cannot be here today. I thank the Senator for raising the matter 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 St. Michael's House special school.

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 and so forth, 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 there is none currently but there is a high demand for pupil places, while a band four project makes provision for desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities.

Each band rating has a number of subcategories which more specifically describe the type of works needed and the urgency attaching to them. The application from St. Michael's House special school has been assigned a band 1.2 rating. This band rating reflects the nature of the project, providing accommodation for children with special educational needs. As such, the project was prioritised for progression in 2010.

The Senator will be aware that the project was one of the school building projects announced by the then Minister for Education and Science in February to begin the design process and proceed to appoint a design team for a new school in the last quarter of the year. In this regard, officials from the Department met representatives of the school authority at the proposed site for the new school recently. The site is considered generally suitable for the proposed development. The representatives were informed that the next step in the process would be the appointment of a design team and that the Department would be in contact with it in this context in due course.

The Senator will appreciate that the extent of the demand on the Department's capital budget is enormous providing, as it does, accommodation for new communities and modernising existing schools. However, huge inroads have been made into addressing these needs. I again thank the Senator for raising the matter and assure her the Tánaiste is committed to meeting the needs of St. Michael's House special school.