Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 770: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of staff available in the planning and building unit of her Department in Tullamore to deal with the activity involved in making provisions for the school building programme. [19809/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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There are 121.23 wholetime equivalent staff currently assigned to the planning and building unit of my Department. Of these, 80 are in administrative grades on work directly related to the public capital programme for first and second level schools and 31.23 are in professional and technical grades, handing capital projects at all levels.

Apart from filling an existing vacancy for a quantity surveyor, it has been agreed to recruit a further quantity surveyor and an additional architect for the planning and building unit. Overall numbers in my Department have to be managed within the context of the Government's overall policy on public sector numbers. Regarding the planning and building unit, apart from the additional professional staff being recruited, additional temporary contract administrative staff have been put in place as required to deal with particular demands.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 771: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when she will reply to correspondence from a person (details supplied) in County Wexford. [19810/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school planning section of my Department has no record of the correspondence referred to by the Deputy. However, contact will be made directly with the person concerned to ascertain the content and to respond to the issues raised.