Joanna Tuffy (Labour)
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I am looking for an update on school accommodation in the Lucan area. I have raised the matter a number of times. Since I raised the issue last, the building programme for 2004 was announced, which affects a number of schools in the area. I want to get an update on how they are affected by the building programme.

Jim McDaid (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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As I read this response, it seemed to me a very positive outcome for Lucan. I thank the Senator for raising the issue and apologise on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science who is unfortunately unable to be here.

On the Minister's behalf, I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity of outlining to the House both the extensive actions already taken by the Department of Education and Science and those planned into the future to tackle the accommodation needs of schools in Lucan, County Dublin.

The Department of Education and Science is fully conscious of the issue raised by the Senator. Lucan is the fastest growing area in the country and a result of this there has been a marked increase in the demand for school places, particularly at primary level. To meet this demand, the Department of Education and Science has employed a two-pronged strategy. First, it has significantly increased the capacity of existing schools in the area by providing additional permanent and temporary accommodation and, second, at primary level it has provided an entire new state-of-the-art 16 classroom school with another such school planned for delivery in September 2004. The detailed position at primary level is that building projects were completed in 2003 at Scoil Áine junior school and St. Thomas's senior school to increase the capacity of each of these schools to 16 classrooms. Construction of the new Lucan Educate Together national school was also completed in 2003 and the capacity of this school is 16 mainstream classrooms together with an autistic unit.

To further alleviate difficulties in the area, the Department requested a re-organisation of the Archbishop Ryan national school to form a junior school and a senior school. The school authority and the patron have agreed to this course of action to commence operation in September 2004. The Department will be providing accommodation to facilitate this re-organisation which will enable the school to increase capacity considerably. In addition, the building unit of the Department recently provided two prefabricated classrooms at the school to cater for immediate accommodation needs. A new school, Griffeen Valley Educate Together national school, was established in Lucan in September 2002. The school is currently located in the temporary accommodation recently vacated by Lucan Educate Together national school.

As the Senator may be aware, the local authority, at the Department's request, reserved a site in the Griffeen Valley area for primary school purposes. The property section of the Office of Public Works has agreed a price with the site owners and negotiations to acquire this site for a permanent school building for the Griffeen Valley school are at an advanced stage. To expedite the matter, a competition for the design and build of a 16-classroom school on the site has already taken place. Tenders resulting from this competition process have been evaluated and it is expected that a contract will be awarded shortly. The target date to have the new building in place is September 2004.

At post-primary level, the Department has already responded to the demand for additional school places in Lucan by approving major extensions at two schools in the area, both of which are currently under construction. In addition, a project for the provision of a new permanent building for Coláiste Cois Life, the all-Irish post-primary school, will proceed to tender and construction this year. The Senator will also be interested to know that, following consultations with the Department, South Dublin County Council has also reserved a site for post-primary school purposes in the Adamstown strategic development zone. This is intended to assist in catering for the future needs of the Lucan area.

The indications are that the combination of all the measures outlined above will satisfy the demand for primary and post-primary school places in Lucan well into the future. However, the Department will continue to monitor developments in the area to ensure any emerging additional demands are addressed as expeditiously as possible. Once again, I thank the Senator for raising this matter in the House.