Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 741: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his Department has received an application from a school (details supplied) in County Cork for funds under the school building programme; when construction is expected to commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27372/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The school referred to by the Deputy applied for grant-aid for the provision of new school accommodation under the 2006 Small Schools Scheme and was successful. 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 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.

I understand that the school in question decided some months ago to appoint new consultants to the project.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 742: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if his Department has received an application from a school (details supplied) in County Cork for funding under the school buildings programme; when the school is expected to be sanctioned for development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27373/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers initially submitted an application for a General Purpose Room. However, more recently the school submitted a revised application to incorporate classrooms and ancillary accommodation.

This application has been assessed and assigned a band 2 rating in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building works.

Progress on this project will be considered in the context of my Department's multi-annual School Building and Modernisation programme. However, in light of current competing demands on the capital budget of the Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of this project at this time.