Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 609: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the measures in place to ensure planning authorities take account of future expansion needs of schools when determining planning applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34562/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Education and Science is included among the prescribed authorities to which local authorities are statutorily obliged to send draft development plans or proposed variations to development plans for comment. As a matter of course, meetings are arranged with local authorities to establish the location, scale and pace of any major proposed developments and sites are reserved, where necessary, to ensure the timely delivery of any required education infrastructure. Furthermore, under the provisions of the strategic development zones it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and also that the schools must be developed in line with the housing and other developments.

In addition, the school planning section of the Department of Education and Science is working proactively with some local authorities to explore the possibility of the development of school provision in tandem with the development of community facilities. This enhanced co-operation has the effect of minimising the Department's land requirements and thus reducing site costs while at the same time providing local communities with new schools with enhanced facilities.