Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 524: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if plans are in place to build an extension to a school (details supplied) in County Donegal; his views on whether this project is urgent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42533/09]

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 561: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views on the facilities at a school (details supplied) in County Donegal in view of the fact that the school's gymnasium is used as a classroom, a staff room, a caretaker's store, and a kitchen; his further views on whether this serves the physical educational interests of pupils; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42904/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 561 and 524 together.

The school to which the Deputy refers has applied to my Department for capital funding for a large scale extension project.

The application has been assessed in accordance with published prioritisation criteria for large scale projects and assigned a band 1 rating.

Information in respect of the current school building programme along with all assessed applications for major capital works, including the project referred to by the Deputy, are now available on the Department's website at www.education.ie.

The priority attaching to individual projects is determined by published prioritisation criteria, which were formulated following consultation with the Education Partners. There are four band ratings under these criteria, each of which describes the extent of accommodation required and the urgency attaching to it. Band 1 is the highest priority rating and Band 4 is the lowest. Documents explaining the band rating system are also available on the Department's website.

The progression of all large scale building projects, including this project, from initial design stage through to construction will be considered in the context of the school building and modernisation programme. However, in view of the level of demand on the Department's capital budget, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression the project at this time.

It is my understanding that the school has a principal's office, a GP room, 7 permanent mainstream classrooms, 2 prefabs sanctioned for mainstream teaching and 3 prefabs for use as ancillary rooms. It is also my understanding that the school has 9 mainstream classroom groupings. Therefore the school has a classroom for each of its class groupings.

However, if there is an accommodation shortage at the school in the immediate short term, the Department grant-aids the provision of temporary accommodation in respect of schools requiring interim accommodation to cater for additional staffing allocations while awaiting the provision of permanent accommodation.

It is open to the school authority to apply to the Department for temporary accommodation. The application form RTA is available on the Department's website, www.education.ie