Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding the provision of a new school for a school (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26568/09]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The school referred to by the Deputy submitted an application to my Department for large scale capital funding for a new school.

Following an assessment, the proposed project was assigned a Band Rating of 1.1 in accordance with the Department's published prioritisation criteria and it was determined that a 24 classroom school would be required to meet the short to medium term needs of the area.

A technical examination concluded that the development of a 24 classroom school building on the existing school site would not be feasible.

My Department has inspected several sites suggested by the school authorities to assess their suitability. It is intended that the Department will commence the acquisition of a site in the coming months.

Once the site has been acquired, the progression of this large scale project, from initial design stage through to construction phase will be considered in the context of my Department's multi-annual School Building and Modernisation Programme. At this stage, it is not possible to give an exact timescale for the commencement of construction.