Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 502: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if there is an application in her Department for the refurbishment and extension of a school (details supplied) in County Donegal; and when it is expected that a grant will be approved in order that the project can commence. [5015/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The school in question submitted an application under the Small Schools Scheme 2007 for additional accommodation/ refurbishment. Due to the volume of applications received in my Department at the time it was not possible to allocate funding to all proposed projects and the application from this school was not successful.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 503: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will increase the grant towards the cost of providing a four teacher school and other facilities, such as those for special learning and sports at a school (details supplied) in County Longford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5021/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the expansion of the Small Schools Scheme, a grant of €484,000 was sanctioned to enable the management authority of the school in question to extend and modernise their school. The Small Schools 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 the building project. The intention of the scheme is to provide funding to schools to enable them to undertake wanted building projects.

The scheme is not intended to leave schools with significant fundraising needs but for the school to tailor the scope of capital works commissioned to the available funding. A central tenet of the scheme is that the schools, granted discretion and funding, must equally accept responsibility for prioritisation, adherence to statutory regulations, control of costs and ensuring value for money. The decision on whether to continue participating in the scheme or to drop out, if the scope of build is more than the funding envelope permits, is a matter for each school authority. The current position is that the school management have applied for planning permission and are awaiting a decision.