Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 350: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a school (details supplied) in County Monaghan is in financial crisis due to the lack of funding allocated by his Department towards the building of an extension, that his Department allocated €478,000 to the project while the lowest tender for the development was €555,735, and that due to the unforeseen presence of rock in the grounds of the school the costs of the works have increased by €32,000; and if in view of this he will re-examine this application. [24654/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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As part of the expansion of the Small Schools Scheme 2007, a grant of €484,000 was sanctioned for the school in question to enable the Board of Management to extend and refurbish their school. The scheme is not intended to leave schools with significant fund-raising needs. Rather the terms of the Scheme require the schools to tailor the scope of capital works commissioned to the available funding. 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. A central tenet of the devolved scheme is that the school, granted discretion and funding, must equally accept responsibility for prioritisation, adherence to statutory regulations, as well as control of costs and ensuring value for money.

The authorities of the Lisdoonan school accepted the grant offer and returned a form of undertaking agreeing to comply with the requirements of the scheme in March 2007. A letter and project cost details was received in May indicating that the total cost of the school's building proposals would amount to €585,775, an excess of €101,775 over the €484,000 on offer to the school. The school submitted an appeal that the shortfall be funded by my Department. This request for significant additional funding was considered in my Department. However, in line with the original intention of the Small Schools Scheme, it was considered that the school should be encouraged to complete the project within the funding envelope provided and, accordingly, the application for additional grant aid was not granted.

In the current economic climate and with considerable demands on the capital budget of my Department, it is not possible to entertain such significant increases in the amounts grant aided to schools. It is the responsibility of the school authorities to manage the resources allocated to them to ensure maximum value for money and to control costs. In this instance, having examined the application for additional funding, the Department was not in a position to increase the grant already allocated and accordingly, further grant aid was refused.