Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 640: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress in regard to the commitment given in the programme for Government to ensure the maximum use of the top class standard designs for primary schools that have been developed to deliver new buildings in the fastest timeframe possible. [28689/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Professional and Technical staff in my Department continuously review and update the design of school buildings. A suite of technical guidance documents is available on my Department's website to assist design teams in best practice in the design and development of projects and to encourage the design team to take a complete design team approach from project conception.

My Department has developed Generic Repeat Designs to reduce the cost, speed up the delivery of new schools particularly in developing areas and ensure that the most up to date technologies are used. This year further design templates are being developed, using appropriate off site construction technologies, for repeatable buildings.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 641: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress in regard to the commitment given in the programme for Government to prioritise energy efficiency and eco-design in new school buildings. [28690/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has a strong record in developing low energy educational buildings. For the past eight years my Department has been using a process called the DART approach to develop sustainable and energy efficiency in educational buildings. This acronym focuses on four key areas, namely; Design, Awareness, Research, and Technology.

The Department takes a holistic approach and has developed technical guidance on energy efficiency in school designs as an integral part of the suite of technical guidance documents. These guidelines encourage the design team to take a complete design team approach from project conception. There is particular emphasis on elimination of over-design, improved thermal envelope design, improved passive solar design, natural ventilation and day lighting along with advanced heating and lighting controls.

It has been demonstrated that all Primary Schools designed and built in line with the above policy and the technical guidance documents can have an energy performance that is 2.3 times more efficient than international best practice.

The performance of the Department in the area of low energy design has been recognised at both national and international levels with sustainable energy awards for excellence in Design and Specification.

One of the research projects currently underway, in conjunction with Sustainable Energy Ireland, is aimed at helping existing schools to meet the certification requirements of the Energy Performance Building Directive. This process will allow all schools to conduct an energy audit of their school and energy usage and to input specific information to the Department's energy website. The school will then not only receive information on their actual energy use and environmental emissions but will also be able to compare the school's energy performance relative to that of other school buildings in the form of an energy rating. They will also be able to receive energy saving advice from the website relevant to their school buildings and to view case studies of similar schools and how they achieve better energy savings.

The data gathering, energy auditing and benchmarking and website development aspects of the project are complete and validation of the system will be completed this year.

The development of energy efficiency and eco-design will continue to be kept under review to take account of improvements in technology in the market place.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 642: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress in regard to the commitment given in the programme for Government to promote and support the use of school facilities by community groups and other appropriate services and design new schools in order to facilitate multi-use. [28691/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Programme for Government commits my Department to promote and support the use of school facilities by community groups and other appropriate services and design new schools in order to facilitate multi-use.

The primary responsibility of my Department in this area is the provision of school facilities for the effective delivery of the curriculum. In addition, school authorities have a considerable degree of autonomy in relation to how their premises are managed and utilised at local level.

However, the Government recognises that there is a lack of recreational facilities for community use in certain areas which could be met if school premises were made available to the wider community. To encourage schools in this respect, my Department issued a circular to all school authorities in late 2005 urging trustees and Boards of Management to make their facilities available, where possible, for community education and recreation purposes.

Decisions in relation to the use of school facilities remain entirely at the discretion of the school authorities, subject to the condition that the needs of the students attending the school are prioritised in the first instance. It is also important that schools should ensure that insurance and security are covered as it is unlikely that the school's insurance policy would cover non-school activities or that a caretaker would be routinely available to open/lock up premises.

My Department has also progressed a number of school building projects within the Fingal and Adamstown areas of Dublin with local Authority/Developers to produce an integrated solution to education and community facilities that matches the delivery of new housing.

In respect of PPP schools, the contract arrangements provide for school facilities to be available for community use when not required by the school.

My Department's position generally is that the availability of such facilities should be self-funding i.e. adequate to cover the heat/light/caretaking arrangements as well as making some contribution to the repair of wear and tear on premises caused by increased use.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 643: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the progress in regard to the commitment given in the programme for Government to abolish the local contribution to building projects and to the rental of accommodation. [28692/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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This matter referred to by the Deputy is currently under consideration by my Department.