Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 758: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if health and safety regulations are achieved by all schools throughout the country with particular reference to accommodation requirements resulting in the occupation of landings, hallways, passageways or other accommodation not designed for classroom use; if her attention has been drawn to such situations, the way in which she proposes to address the issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26447/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In accordance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work, Act 1989, it is the responsibility of school management authorities to have a safety statement in place in their schools. Schools are obliged to identify possible hazards, assess the risks to health and safety and to put appropriate safeguards in place.

In practical terms, individual school authorities are best placed to assess the detail of their own health and safety requirements.

Provision is built into the School Building and Modernisation Programme to enable schools address urgent health and safety problems. Primary schools are given an annual allocation, currently amounting to €3,809 plus €12.70 per pupil, under the grant scheme for minor works which can be used entirely at the discretion of school management to address basic health and safety issues relating to school infrastructure.

The Summer Works Scheme was introduced during 2004 which provides capital grants for small-scale refurbishment works at primary and post-primary schools. The level of funding that is provided is based on the cost estimate provided by the school's design team at application stage. Responsibility for the delivery of the projects is entirely devolved out to the schools and their design teams. The scope of works covered under this scheme is intended to address Health and Safety issues in all schools as well as improvement works to the existing fabric of the buildings. 485 primary schools will be funded in 2006 under this scheme.

My Department also sets-aside a contingency sum each year to deal with emergency works in primary and post-primary schools, including health and safety works. Urgently required health and safety works relating to asbestos removal, radon mitigation or dust extraction may be grant-aided under the remediation programmes operated by the School Building Section of my Department.

This year alone, €277 million in total will be allocated to primary schools for building works. The new Schools Building and Modernisation Programme 2006-2010 will be underpinned not just by a significant increase in overall funding but also by major improvements in the administration of the funding. Devolving more funding to local level through the Summer Works Scheme and the Small and Rural School's initiative will allow schools to move ahead more quickly with smaller projects.