Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 710: To ask the Minister for Education and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 221 of 8 June 2006, the status of the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27979/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The proposed refurbishment and extension project for the School referred to by the Deputy is at an early stage of architectural planning.

Additional Stage 2 (Sketch Scheme) documentation was requested from the school authorities and is currently being examined by the Technical Staff in my Department.

Department officials will be in contact with the school authorities when this examination has been completed.

A decision on which school building projects will advance to tender and construction will be considered in the context of the School Building and Modernisation Programme 2006-2010.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 711: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will approve additional funding for a project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27980/06]

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 €150,000 was sanctioned in March 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 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 management of school in question recently submitted an appeal to my Department for additional funding which was considered by the Appeals Board. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the funding allocated to the School was increased and the School informed of the decision.