Alex White (Labour)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for affording me the opportunity to raise this issue on the Adjournment. It concerns two combined schools on the same site in Knocklyon in Dublin, namely St. Colmcille's senior and junior schools. They are highly successful schools with exceptional input from their staff and students with a marvellous level of respect and support in the community.

The difficulty is that the schools wish to apply for planning permission but so far the Minister has not seen fit to permit the school to proceed with this application. The schools have slightly fewer than 500 pupils in prefabricated accommodation with a total of 16 prefab classrooms and 14 prefab resource teacher rooms. Most of these prefabs were installed 20 to 25 years ago. Naturally enough, they are in very poor condition. It is vital this project proceeds.

The schools have been addressing this matter themselves since as far back as 2000. The two boards of management raised the matter of poor quality accommodation with the Department in April 2000. A feasibility study was carried out in December 2001 and in March 2005 the Minister authorised the schools to proceed to architectural planning. A stage 2 submission was submitted in October 2006 and in November 2007, stage 3 was given technical approval. The boards of management were then requested to wait for further news and permission to apply for planning permission until after the budget in December 2007. They are still waiting for this permission.

This project is vital to the schools and it is important to point out to the Minister of State that it will entail no extra cost to the Department of Education and Science. It is purely to afford the schools the opportunity to proceed with their application for planning. The momentum exists in the schools and in the local community which provides fantastic support for the schools. A site has been secured for temporary accommodation with the agreement of the local community. All that is required to be done is that the schools are allowed to proceed to apply for planning permission.

I do not understand why, in circumstances where costs are not entailed, the Minister could not see her way to giving the green light to the schools to make their application for planning permission so this vital project can be brought to fruition. I look forward to the response of the Minister of State. The schools, pupils, parents and the local community look forward to this project coming to fruition at the earliest possible opportunity.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Alex White for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the position on the delivery of a building project to provide two new state-of-the-art buildings to accommodate the schools in Dublin 16.

By way of background, the current enrolment in the junior element of the school is 673 pupils. Its staffing comprises a principal, deputy principal and 26 main classroom teachers. The school also has nine special education teachers and four temporary language support teachers. The senior school has 723 pupils on its rolls and it has a staffing complement of a principal, deputy principal, 27 main classroom teachers and seven special education teachers.

The accommodation at each of the schools consists of 16 permanent classrooms with additional accommodation being met by prefabricated structures. This project has a band 2 rating under the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects and is in the early stages of architectural planning. The Department of Education and Science will be providing a 32-classroom, purpose-built facility for each of these schools.

The Senator will appreciate that schools building projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need and this is determined by the band rating assigned to them. The band rating for the project in question is band 2 which reflects the fact that it already has a significant degree of accommodation but still has a shortfall.

The Senator will be aware that a school building programme for any given year is rolled out in tranches. This is to ensure a steady flow of projects to underpin the multi-annual nature of the school building and modernisation programme. The first tranche of the Department's capital programme for 2008 was announced in February. This contained details of projects which will go to tender and construction over the coming months. Further announcements will be made as the budgetary position allows. The project for the schools in question will be considered for progress in this context and consistent with its band rating. Direct contact will be made with the school authority when approval to proceed further can be given.

Over the lifetime of the national development plan, the Government will provide funding of €4.5 billion for school buildings. This will be the largest investment programme in schools in the history of the State and it will enable the Department of Education and Science to ensure school places are available where they are needed and the upgrading and expansion of existing facilities can continue. This level of investment will allow the Department to continue the school building programme which commenced during the lifetime of the last national development plan when considerably more than €2.6 billion was invested in school development, delivering more than 7,800 projects.

Alex White (Labour)
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I believe there will be considerable disappointment at the response given by the Minister of State. Describing the accommodation in these schools as constituting a shortfall is the greatest understatement I have heard recently. It is much more than a shortfall. These schools have serious needs. Does the Minister of State agree that the response represents a deterioration of any prospects the schools have for action? In November, the schools were told to wait until after the budget and now they are told no date is in prospect for confirmation that the project can proceed. Figures are all very well in the national context. However, all parents and a community will understand is an opportunity to proceed.