Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 447: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the steps she and her Department have taken to have a school sports hall built for a school (details supplied) in Dublin 12, in view of the fact that many of the pupils come from nearby RAPID areas, that it is within a drugs taskforce area, that physical education is a key component of the curriculum, that it is a Government strategy to tackle obesity in society and the proven value of PE for children in ensuring a healthy future. [26489/07]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 449: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the steps she and her Department has taken to address the fact that classes in a school (details supplied) in Dublin 12 are being held in old prefabs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26491/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 447 and 449 together.

The Department is in receipt of an application for major capital funding for general classroom accommodation and a PE hall, from the school to which the Deputy refers. The application has been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects and has been assigned a band 2 rating. Progress on the project will be considered in the context of the multi-annual School Building and Modernisation programme.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 448: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the steps she has taken to address the severe lack of sports halls in schools in the Dublin 12 area; and her views on the fact that Dublin 24 has 100% sports hall coverage, while Dublin 12 only has sports halls in 44% of the schools in the area. [26490/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department is committed to funding the provision of PE, general purpose and outdoor play areas in schools as part of the schools' capital investment programme. Applications for the provision of PE or sports facilities in existing schools are considered in the context of all other applications on hand for capital investment e.g. applications for new schools; refurbishment projects; extensions; new sites; remediation programmes and so on. The provision of sports facilities will be done in the context of available resources and the published criteria for prioritising school building projects. I would point out to the Deputy that as part of a joint Government programme to provide community sports facilities in drugs task force areas, the Department provided funding for a dual purpose PE Hall in the Dublin 12 area and in the adjacent Dublin 8 area. These are located at St Michael's Vocational School, Inchicore and Pearse College, Crumlin. The stated objective of the programme is that each hall would be "dual use" in nature i.e. they would be accessible to the wider community, as well as to the local school population. The aim is that, apart from normal school usage, the facilities would be available as much as possible to the community and, in particular, to target groups such as youth at risk.

The overall average area of the halls is approximately 1,700m2. This compares to a maximum standard PE hall for very large post-primary schools of 799m2. The 1,700m2 is made up of a Physical Education area with a floor space of 637m2, a crèche of 57m2, offices, meeting rooms, a balcony area that can be subdivided into a fitness studio and a multipurpose area, and changing facilities. As part of the same programme, a major leisure facility at Le Fanu Park in Ballyfermot was co-funded by the City of Dublin VEC and Dublin City Council. The Department provided funding towards the Sports Hall which forms part of the overall development. This facility is used by Ballyfermot College of Further Education and Kylemore College, Ballyfermot.