Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 523: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her Department has received an application form a school (details supplied) in County Carlow to address the current and future accommodation problems in the school; when she expects to make a statement on same; if her Department has learned lessons from the failure to forward plan, as illustrated in Laytown, County Meath; and if so, the action schools can take in areas where there is rapid growth pending. [38619/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm that the Department is in receipt of an application under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme 2007 from the management authority of the school to which the Deputy refers.

Applications for this Scheme are currently being assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria and a list of successful applicants will be announced when this process is complete.

In relation to forward planning in areas of rapid growth, the process of assessing the need for new or additional educational facilities at primary or post-primary level in any given area entails consideration of all relevant factors, including enrolment and demographic trends, housing developments and the capacity of existing schools to meet the demand for places. Liaison with existing schools is also an important part of the process, as the school authorities would usually alert the Department where, in their view, the need for additional accommodation is anticipated. In this way, every effort is made to ensure that there is adequate existing provision, or that timely arrangements are made to extend capacity or provide new infrastructure where necessary.

Over and above the statutory consultation provisions in relation to local authority draft area development plans, the Department has in recent years worked to strengthen contacts with local authorities to enable informed decisions to be made in planning future educational provision.

On top of this, the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects, which were revised following consultation with the Education Partners, targets school projects in rapidly developing areas by assigning them a band 1 rating which is the highest priority possible. Innovations in the delivery of school buildings such as Generic Repeat Designs and use of the Design and Build model ensure that new school buildings are delivered in the fastest timeframe possible. This is clear evidence of the Department's commitment to ensuring that the needs of rapidly developing areas are met as quickly as possible.

School Planning Section is also working proactively with some local authorities on the possibility of the development of school provision in tandem with the development of community facilities. A practical output from this approach is an innovative partnership with Fingal County Council.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the Department's school planning projections, Fingal County Council will identify and acquire appropriate sites where schools with enhanced sporting, community and arts facilities will be built to the benefit of both the school and the wider community. In practice, the Local Authority will identify the sites when adopting their Local Area Plans. The Council will go on to acquire sufficient land as recommended by the Department on which an appropriate sized school or schools for that local area can then be built.

In return, the design of the schools on these sites will be varied to meet community needs identified by the Council. The range of enhanced combination facilities will include such as full-size sports halls, stage and dressing rooms, community meeting rooms, all-weather pitches and playgrounds. These additional facilities, which will be over and above the Department's standard specifications for schools, will be available not only to the school during normal school hours but also to the local community in the evenings, at weekends and during school holidays.

There are two early examples of the agreement already in place at St. Patrick's NS, Diswellstown and Mary Mother of Hope N.S. both of which are in Dublin 15. The benefits from this approach are obvious and the Department would like to see it replicated throughout the country.

In addition, under the provisions of the Strategic Development Zones (SDZ) it is generally the position that sites must be reserved for schools and that the schools must be developed commensurate with housing and other developments such as community facilities. In the Adamstown SDZ for example, with the cooperation of South Dublin County Council and the developers, 2 new primary schools will be in place in the next year in fulfilment of requirements under the planning Scheme. Again, the Department would like to see this phasing approach replicated throughout the country.

The Department has also recently adopted an area based approach to school planning where, through a public consultation process involving all interested parties, a blueprint for schools' development in an area for a 10 year timeframe is set out. The recently published plan for the N4/M4 corridor is an example of this approach.

Taken in combination I believe the measures outlined will improve the speed and effectiveness of the response to emerging needs in rapidly developing areas.