Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 715: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in view of the efforts being made by the board of management and parents' association of a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath to come up with additional funding, her Department will bridge the gap and provide the necessary additional funding to ensure that the school can be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26123/06]

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 €350,000 was sanctioned to enable the management authorities of the school in question to provide additional accommodation. 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 scheme is not structured on the basis that the Department funding must be supplemented by local fundraising. It does 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 the devolved scheme 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.

An appeal for additional funding by the school in question was considered by the Appeals Board and they are satisfied that, under the terms of the scheme, the school does not warrant additional funding. The Board of management was informed of the position.