Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 423: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the totally unsatisfactory accommodation for a school (details supplied) in Dublin 11 and the assistance which will be provided to secure better facilities for the school. [40105/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school to which the Deputy refers opened with provisional recognition from the Department in September 2005. One of the criteria for granting provisional recognition is that, in accordance with section 10(2)(e) of the Education Act 1998, the proposed interim accommodation must comply with the Local Government (Planning and Development) Acts 1963 to 1996, the Building Regulations 1991 to 1997, including the building control regulations, the Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1989 and any modifications, statutory instruments or orders made in accordance with these Acts.

Responsibility for compliance with these regulations lies with the patron and board of management of the school. The Department accepted in good faith that these regulations were being met and is grant aiding rental of the accommodation in use on this basis.

If the school authority now feels, some four months into the first year of its operation, that its accommodation is inadequate, the Department will be obliged to examine the matter to ascertain whether or not the school has breached one of the conditions of its recognition.