Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

I am taking this adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn. I thank Senator Reilly for raising the question of St. Mary's national school in Virginia, County Cavan, and welcome the opportunity it provides to outline to the Seanad the Government's strategy for capital investment in major primary and post-primary education projects over the coming years and to clarify the current position on the building project for St Mary's.

I wish to begin by setting out the context in which decisions on meeting the accommodation needs of schools over the coming years must be considered. Total enrolment is expected to grow by approximately 70,000 students between now and 2018. This will involve an increase of over 45,000 pupils at primary level and 25,000 students at post-primary level. On 12 March the Minister announced details of 219 major school building projects which will commence construction over the next five years as part of a €2 billion capital investment programme. These are in addition to the 56 major school building projects already announced for 2012. The projects will account for most of the capital funding available from now until 2016. To meet the needs of our growing population of school-going children, the Department must establish new schools as well as extending or replacing a number of existing schools, particularly in those areas where it has been identified that most demographic growth will be concentrated.

There are five primary schools in the Virginia feeder area. The enrolment at primary level show an increase over the past decade. However, based on an analysis of child benefit data for the area, the Department has projected that future enrolments will remain relatively stable up to 2018. The current enrolment at St. Mary's national school, Virginia, is 380 pupils, up from 350 in 2007. While enrolment levels have been growing at the school, they have increased by less than 10% in the past five years.

The building project for St. Mary's is currently at an early stage of architectural planning. The brief for the project is to construct an extension to the existing school of approximately 1,250 sq. m, some refurbishment of the existing accommodation and the replacement of a number of temporary classrooms. This will result in the provision of a 16 classroom school. The current teacher allocation stands at 14 mainstream teachers.

The design team was appointed in June of last year. Stage 1 of architectural planning was approved in February this year and the design team is currently working on the Stage 2(a) submission. The next stage is the completion of the detailed design, planning permission and other necessary statutory approvals and the preparation of tender documents. To ensure every child has access to a school place, the delivery of major school projects to meet the demographic demands nationally will be the main focus for capital investment in schools over the coming years.

All other school building projects, including the project for St. Mary's, will continue to be advanced over time within the context of the funding available. However, in light of competing demands on the Department's capital budget, it is not possible at this time to progress the project for St. Mary's national school, Virginia, to tender and construction stage. I thank the Senator for allowing me the opportunity to outline the position.