Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 550: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the funding which has been allocated to a school (details supplied) in County Laois for its building project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24728/06]

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 €440,000 was sanctioned in 2005 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 evolution. 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 may instead be considered for inclusion in the mainstream school building programme in line with the project's priority band rating.

The school in question submitted an application for additional funding which was considered by an Appeals Board comprising senior officials of my Department. Increased grant aid has been sanctioned to cover the cost of planning conditions. The school authority has been notified of the decision.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 551: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her Department has received an application from a school (details supplied) in County Kildare for an extension; if so, the stage of the application process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24729/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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An application for major capital funding has been received from the school authority to which the Deputy refers. On foot of an assessment of this application, it has been determined that the school requires to be developed into a 24 classroom facility with appropriate ancillary accommodation. This has been agreed with the school authority.

The project has also been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects and it has been assigned a Band 2 rating. Progress on the project is being considered in the context of the School Building and Modernisation Programme from 2006 onwards.