Written answers

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Department of Education and Science

School Accommodation

9:00 pm

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 915: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science the number, condition and size of all primary school buildings here; if an assessment has been carried out of the utilisation of all those primary schools with a view to ensuring the maximisation of all resources; if she has a conditions and needs requirement in terms of maintenance of those schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15095/10]

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 916: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Science the number, condition and size of the stock of post-primary school buildings here; if an assessment of the utilisation of all those post-primary schools with a view to ensuring the maximisation of all resources has been undertaken; if she has a conditions and needs requirement in terms of maintenance of those schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15096/10]

Photo of Mary CoughlanMary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 915 and 916 together.

While the Forward Planning Section of the Department has detailed information on projected school going population, in order to inform decisions on what accommodation will be required in future years, it is necessary to know what capacity is available in the existing school accommodation stock.

In this regard, work on the development of an online facility for the compilation of an inventory of school accommodation has been completed. The detailed functional specification for the inventory and the online interface and database to hold the information has also been completed.

This online facility will enable schools to provide information about their accommodation, including its composition in terms of permanent and temporary structures, electronically to the Department. The Department will also be collecting information on the age of existing school accommodation including both purchased and rented prefabs. The inventory will also include information on size of school sites.

Schools will be able to access the online facility through the Department's Esinet portal. Initially a small number of schools (circa 90 schools) were given access to the facility for testing. This pilot phase has been completed and is now being reviewed before roll-out to all schools.

When all the information has been received from schools, the inventory will provide key data and statistics on the existing school building stock throughout the country at both primary and post-primary levels. It will enable the Department to calculate capacity in existing school accommodation more accurately and therefore identify where additional accommodation is required.

When the information has been compiled and analysed, it is intended to publish it and this is likely to happen before the end of the current school year.

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