Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 509: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her proposals to reform her Department to ensure that the provision of schools does not rest on the parents in new communities. [13216/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The predominant need in new communities is for the establishment of new primary schools for which there is an open and transparent process in place. A central element of this process is that patron bodies wishing to establish new schools must identify the level of demand for the provision of education under the ethos proposed and that potential enrolment will meet certain minimum targets.

The system was streamlined following recommendations made by the Commission on School Accommodation. As part of the process, the New Schools Advisory Committee, NSAC, which is an independent body, assesses all applications for recognition against published criteria. It conducts an open and transparent public consultation process as part of this assessment. The committee's annual programme of work culminates in a report to the Minister with recommendations on the granting of recognition to applicants. I am happy to support all new schools where it has been clearly demonstrated in accordance with the criteria that a demand exists. This support includes payment of teacher salaries, capitation grants and rental grant aid for accommodation.

In addition, primary school management bodies and newly established primary schools will benefit from a package of measures which I recently announced. This package recognises specific issues that arise in relation to school start-up.

I have decided to provide: a training grant of €10,000 for the boards of management and staff of new primary schools established from this year onwards; a training grant of €5,000 for boards of management and staff where the school is in the second year of operation; and the appointment in advance of the school opening of the principal teacher so the he or she can assist in the preparation for the first year of its operation. These measures are a strong indication of my commitment to supporting schools in a start-up situation.

I am conscious of the pressures being placed on education providers in areas of major population growth in particular. To this end, my Department causes sites to be reserved under local authority area development planning processes so that land will be available to prospective patron bodies for the development of schools. In addition, my Department, is prioritising the provision of new and enhanced educational facilities in these areas. The prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects which were recently revised in consultation with the education partners allocates a top priority band 1 rating to school building projects in such areas.

To further underpin the establishment of these schools, my Department has made a number of changes in recent years which have assisted patron bodies in the provision of permanent accommodation. One of these changes is acquisition by the state of school sites and another is the abolition of the local contribution to the building costs for State-owned school buildings, which had cost up to €63,000 per school. Other innovations include the development of the design and build model and the generic repeat design model to provide permanent accommodation much faster, such as in the case of the new multi-denominational school in Griffeen Valley, Lucan, which was designed and built in less than 13 months.

Taken in combination, these measures have greatly alleviated the burden on local communities and my Department will continue to work to provide any additional supports it can give.