Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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Question 311: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on the feasibility of making all schools wheelchair-accessible; if she proposes to make funding available to enable schools to become wheelchair accessible to those pupils and visitors who are wheelchair bound; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33760/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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It is the policy of my Department to provide all new schools with access facilities and special toilets to cater for disabled students and teachers. In the architectural design of emergency evacuation routes, account is also taken of the requirements of students and teachers with disabilities. New schools with two storeys or more are provided with lifts. The school authorities are advised of accessibility requirements by my Department and the relevant design teams during the architectural planning process.

Priority is given to applications from existing schools, which make application for grant-aid towards the provision of access and other facilities for the physically disabled.