John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, whom I meet regularly on the Adjournment about educational matters.

St. Mary's College, Knockbeg, County Carlow, has been the victim of an ongoing, protracted dance with the Department of Education and Science over the past ten years about the drawing down of funding for a new school building. The school has a long history of a couple of hundred years and has almost 400 students on the roll. The problem, as with a number of other schools around the country, particularly in Knockbeg, is the condition of the school buildings themselves. Most of them are quite old and have not been repaired for many years and, as a result, the accommodation in the school leaves a lot to be desired. There has been contact between the Minister, the Department, the school and local TDs over the past couple of years and even in the past few months. A whole school evaluation report was conducted on the college in February 2005 which stated: "There are few specialist rooms, there is a serious deficit of basic facilities and the standard of accommodation is cramped and unsuited to modern secondary school standards." This is a damning statement, particularly in view of the fact that the efforts of the school and the board of management to seek funding have been going on since 1999. It has dragged on for ten years and it is now four years since the damning whole school evaluation report, but we still have no progress.

At the last meeting that took place between the Minister and the board of management, mention was made of the appointment of a conservation architect to examine the school buildings because of their architectural significance. The board of management is anxious that this appointment be made as soon as possible, but I understand no appointment has been made despite the fact that the Minister gave what amounted to a commitment when the meeting, attended by a number of local TDs, took place on 8 January last. I hope the Minister of State in his response will have something positive to say about that and on the bigger question of a new school building for St. Mary's College, Knockbeg.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this adjournment on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Education and Science. I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position with regard to the proposed school building project for St. Mary's College, Knockbeg, County Carlow.

St. Mary's College is an all-boys' post-primary school which had an enrolment of 388 pupils for the 2007-08 school year. This represents an increase of 19% over the past five years. It is the intention of the Department of Education and Science to provide an extension at this school to cater for the growing demand for pupil places. In this regard, the long-term projected enrolment is 450 pupils. An extensive refurbishment project will also be carried out to the existing building. The project attracts a band 2 rating under the Department's published prioritisation for large-scale building projects. This reflects the fact that a significant extension is needed and that extensive refurbishment is also required.

The project was included in an announcement on 8 November 2006 about the start of architectural planning, but, unfortunately, the funding for this has not yet been available. As part of the process of preparing the building project to move into architectural planning, it has emerged that part of the existing school building is listed on the national inventory of architectural heritage. It will therefore be necessary to appoint a conservation architect to establish the scope of the works necessary to comply with the Planning and Development Act 2000. The outcome of this will inform the Department on whether it will be economically viable to continue with the plans to develop the existing site.

The Minister for Education and Science recently met the school authority and I am pleased to inform the Senator that at this meeting he agreed to make funding available for the appointment of a conservation architect so that this aspect of the proposed project could be dealt with. When the outcome of this is known, a decision can be taken as to how best the school's accommodation needs can be met and consideration can then be given by the Department to the further progression of the project under the school building and modernisation programme in the context of competing priorities and the level of funding available.

The Minister appreciates the disappointment of the school community that the project has not proceeded before now and he is aware it had been hoped the project would proceed prior to 2006. Unfortunately, the level of demand on the Department's capital programme is enormous and projects can only be advanced based on the priority attaching to them and as funding is available. Funding of almost €180,000 has been given to St. Mary's College under the summer works scheme in the recent past to improve conditions while it is waiting for its large-scale project. A band 2 rating is the second highest possible and this positions the project to move forward as soon as the requisite funding is available.

Notwithstanding the current challenging economic environment, the overall increase in the budget of the Department of Education and Science reflects the Government's commitment to prioritising investment in the education sector in very difficult economic circumstances. An initial capital allocation of €581 — sorry, €581 million — in the budget for 2009 was boosted earlier this week by a further €75 million.

John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)
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It is hardly €581.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Things are not that bad.

This will allow the Department of Education and Science to continue to invest significant amounts in school buildings throughout the country, to provide additional school places and to refurbish existing schools such as St. Mary's College. I thank the Senator again for raising this matter and assure him that the Minister for Education and Science is aware of conditions at this school and is committed to moving a building project forward as soon as the financial situation allows.

Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)
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Is the Senator happy with that?

John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)
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The crucial point is that the Minister said the conservation architect would be appointed, but the point the school wants to get across is that the appointment should be made as quickly as possible as the process has dragged on for so long. I understand the constraints under which the Minister is operating and I understand the reasoning behind the appointment of a conservation architect as we need to know whether the existing building is in a condition whereby it could be refurbished or whether the school will need to move to a new site. The problem is trying to get an answer. I will write directly to the Minister to find out when the appointment might be made. I thank the Minister of State for his response.