Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Independent)
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Question 896: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a grant that has been approved for a school (details supplied) will be granted. [36083/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the expansion of the Small Schools Scheme, a grant was allocated in March 2007 to enable the management authority of the school in question to extend and refurbish their school.

The Scheme allows Boards of Management to address their accommodation and building priorities with a guaranteed amount of funding and gives Boards of Management control of their building project.

Currently, the Board has submitted an application for planning permission and a decision is awaited.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 897: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will ensure that funding is made available for the capital project at a school (details supplied) in County Sligo as soon as possible in view of the fact that submission documents have been lodged for over a year; if she will commit to providing this funding in view of the fact that the school has maximised all available physical infrastructure, due to its exponential expansion from 100 students to over 800 in recent times; her views on the fact that the school faces serious health and safety issues which need to be dealt with immediately but can not be done so without the necessary funding; if she will address these serious concerns; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36089/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The educational institution referred to by the Deputy is a designated College under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority (HEA). The Authority is responsible for, inter alia, evaluating capital proposals from institutions under its aegis and issuing recommendations to the Department regarding such proposals.

A proposal for capital developments at the College in question is currently being evaluated by the HEA. However, the HEA is not yet in a position to make a recommendation to my Department regarding the proposal as it awaits additional information from the College in this matter. A meeting took place recently between the HEA and the College in order to progress the matter and the HEA was assured that the relevant information it required from the College would be forwarded as soon as possible.

Any recommendation from the HEA on the matter will be considered in the context of advancing projects from the capital envelope under the NDP 2007-2013 and mindful of prioritisation criteria being developed for the sector.

My Department is awaiting documentation for some time in order to release funding for capital projects completed in the summer of 2006 at the College.