Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 251: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the position of a school (details supplied) in County Dublin on the school building list; the band rating assigned to this application; the number of schools classified in the same band rating; when this project will progress to construction; if it is in an area of rapid population growth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7452/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 236 and 251 together.

The school to which the Deputies refer has applied to my Department for large scale capital funding for an extension and refurbishment project. In common with all such applications, this application has been assessed against my Department's published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects. It has been assigned a Band 2 rating under these criteria. My Department currently has 693 applications with a Band 2 rating. An additional 95 Band 2 rated projects are in architectural planning. A further 11 are at tender stage and 13 are in construction. Details of these applications and projects are available on my Department's website www.education.ie.

Due to the level of demand on my Department's capital budget, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of a project for the school in question at this time. In this regard, funding is not committed to any project until such a time as it appears in a capital programme to proceed to tender and construction and there is certainty that funding will be available to complete the project.

The Forward Planning Section of my Department has carried out a study of the country to identify the areas where, due to demographic changes, there may be a requirement for significant additional school provision at both primary and post-primary levels over the coming years. This study has been conducted using data from the Central Statistics Office, the General Register Office and the Department of Social & Family Affairs in addition to recent schools' enrolment data. The study indicates that the requirement for additional primary provision in years 2010, 2011 and 2012 is likely to be greatest in a total of 42 locations across the country based on significant changes to the demographics of those areas. The area where the school in question is situated is not included in these locations. In the circumstances, my Department is not considering alternative provision in the area at this time particularly as a preliminary examination of its enrolments at primary level indicates a decline in excess of 100 pupils between the 2008 and 2009 school year.