Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 219: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views on a proposal by the parents council of a school (details supplied) in County Limerick that approval be granted to commence construction of a new school in November 2008 in view of the fact that all the money to be spent in 2008 will be provided by the local community, including the site with full planning permission, plus €136,000, with no money required from his Department until 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24873/08]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when he will make a decision on the proposed allocation of funds for the construction of a new school (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24915/08]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the correspondence his Department has received since January 2007 to date in 2008 with a school (details supplied) in County Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24916/08]

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 226: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will support a matter (details supplied). [24922/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 219, 223, 224 and 226 together.

My Department will be providing a new greenfield site building for the school to which the Deputies refer in due course. Tenders have been received for the project and it is now awaiting approval to proceed to construction. I am not in a position to give the go ahead for any more projects to proceed to construction at this time. I indicated this clearly to the school in question when I visited it recently. I am currently reviewing, with my officials, the Department's spending plans for this year and I will not be making any decision on any further capital expenditure until that process is completed.

What I can say is that the new building for the school in question will be provided when the requisite funding is available and on a time line consistent with the priority attaching to the project under the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects. My Department has been in receipt of regular correspondence from the school authorities in question and this will continue to be dealt with in the normal fashion.

I can confirm that the school recently submitted a proposal to my Department in relation to how its project might proceed this year without incurring Departmental expenditure. This proposal will be examined by the School Planning and Building Unit in my Department and a response will issue directly to the school authority. The examination will be strictly governed by the capital allocation available in 2009 and the priority attaching to the project in this regard. Any other approach would be unfair to schools in a similar situation which cannot provide start-up funding for their projects.