Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 537: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the efforts being made by her Department to cater for the significant increase in primary school going age children in Mullingar town, County Westmeath; the discussions she has had with Westmeath County Council in this regard in view of that fact that the future projected increase in such school going children is very significant; if her Department has taken steps to identify a site especially on the western side of Mullingar with a view to erecting a new primary school to accommodate the huge increase in population that is a clearly evident there; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3963/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department accepts that Mullingar is a developing town and is taking a number of steps to ensure that its future needs are met in a timely fashion. In this regard, progress on a number of large scale building projects is being considered for progression under the School Building and Modernisation Programme. This involves a combination of extensions, refurbishments, and the provision of new school buildings. In addition, an in depth examination of both primary and post primary infrastructural provision in Mullingar has been carried out in School Planning Section. The census figures for Mullingar have been taken into account in this examination the findings of which will inform the extent and nature of any future provision to be made.