Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 385: To ask the Minister for Education and Science further to her recent announcement of a new primary school in Dublin 15 for September 2006 under the patronage of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, and a new school under the patronage of Educate Together, the location of each site; the size of each site; the cost of acquiring each site; the number of pupils who will be catered for by each school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22635/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In April this year I took a decision to grant recognition to a new primary school for the Dublin 15 area, with effect from this coming September under the Patronage of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin. The rate and pace of development in this area is unprecedented and this decision was taken to ensure that we have sufficient educational infrastructure in place to cater for the ever increasing number of pupils seeking school places. It is planned that this school, St. Benedict's, Ongar, will be located in temporary accommodation on the Mary Mother of Hope NS site.

With regard to permanent accommodation, it is intended that both the new Catholic School, St. Benedict's and Castaheaney Educate Together National School will be accommodated on the reserved school site at Ongar. The acquisition process for this site is currently being finalised. In order to protect the public procurement process it is normal policy not to comment on the purchase price of individual sites.

A sixteen classroom school will be constructed initially on this site with a target completion date of September, 2007 to meet the immediate accommodation needs of Castaheaney Educate Together National School. However, the ultimate long term enrolment of both schools concerned will be the subject of further discussions with the school management authorities concerned.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 386: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if extra funding will be made available to a school (details supplied) in County Clare in order to complete a building project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22642/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the expansion of the devolved scheme for primary school building works, a grant of €275,000 was sanctioned in March 2006 to enable the management authorities of the school in question to extend and refurbish their school. Devolving funding to school management authorities allows them to have control of their projects, assists in moving projects more quickly to tender and construction and can also deliver better value for money.

The Schemes are not structured on the basis that the Department funding must be supplemented by local fundraising. They do however allow a school to supplement the funding from local resources if they so wish. The critical element is that with devolved authority the school must set the scope of works to match the funding allocated. The Department does not define the precise works to be carried out. A school can make choices within the budget allocated.

Setting the scope of works is the critical first step. Clearly where a school has a known level of resources apart from the Department funding or knows its capacity to raise additional resources it is open to that school to extend the scope of works to include additional facilities. However if the scope of works is not set appropriately from the outset based on the budget available there is a risk that the school will be faced with a funding gap when the project is at construction.

The choices to be made within these devolved schemes rest with the school and that is the cornerstone of any policy of devolution. The school authority knows the budget and must decide what it is capable of building with that budget. The time to identify a problem is at the outset before entering any contract.

Schools can raise with my Department any site specific problems or unusual planning stipulations that impose additional costs and these will be examined.

Otherwise schools must reduce the scope of intended works so as to remain within budget.

A school does not have to accept the invitation to participate in a devolved scheme and instead be considered for inclusion in the mainstream school building programme in line with the project's priority band rating. The school in question recently submitted an appeal for additional funding which will be considered as soon as possible. The school management will be notified of the decision at an early date.