Joanna Tuffy (Labour)
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This matter, which I have raised previously, concerns the need for new accommodation for St. Andrew's national school in Lucan. The Department of Education and Science accepts the school needs a new school building because the present building is not suitable. It is old, has limited capacity for increasing accommodation and is not an appropriate site for expansion. When I raised the issue previously, the Minister seemed to accept the need for new accommodation but progress is slow, despite the fact the Office of Public Works, OPW, advertised for sites before the summer. Has there been further progress?

Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides the opportunity to outline the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding the proposed school building for St. Andrew's national school in Lucan. The Department has always acknowledged the need for a replacement building to meet the future needs of St. Andrew's. As it has been established that the present site is unsuitable for this development, a suitable site must be identified and acquired.

The fact that the school is located in a mature part of Lucan complicates the identification of a site, particularly given the school's desire to remain in close proximity to its church. Previously, the school authority undertook to carry out its own negotiations to acquire a site and to submit its proposals to the Department. However, these proposals did not subsequently materialise and the Department recently took over the task of site identification. This resulted in its requesting the property management section of the Office of Public Works, which acts on behalf of the Department in regard to site acquisitions generally, to explore the possibility of acquiring a site for the school.

I am pleased to inform the Senator that a number of site proposals were received by the OPW under normal advertising procedures. A technical assessment has been carried out on all these sites and the OPW is currently awaiting the site reports. When a suitable site has been secured, the project will then be considered for progress in the context of the school building and modernisation programme from 2007 onwards.