Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 1127: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding an extension to a secondary school (details supplied) in County Mayo; the stage at which it is at present; when it is expected to progress to the next stage; her Department's plans in relation to the health and safety risk presently at that school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24780/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The building project for the school referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning. My Department's officials recently wrote to the school requesting a condition report on the existing mechanical and electrical services as a matter of urgency together with a revised stage 1-2 submission, outline sketch scheme, and a response is awaited before further progression of the project.

As a voluntary secondary school, it is privately owned and managed and it is the responsibility of the board of management to address health and safety issues that arise at the school. This is underpinned in the Education Act. In practical terms, individual school authorities are best placed to assess the detail of their own health and safety requirements. My Department also sets aside a contingency sum each year to deal with emergency works in primary and post-primary schools, including health and safety works. In addition, the summer works scheme was introduced during 2004 which provided capital grants for improvement works at primary and post-primary schools. It is open to the school authorities to apply for works under this scheme and the closing date for receipt of applications under the summer works scheme 2006 is 14 October 2005.