Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 574: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills when her Department will commission the construction of two extra classrooms at a school (details supplied) in County Donegal; if, based on the school's September 2010 intake, the school will have four teachers in 2011; if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the school is spending €22,000 per year on the rental of pre fab accommodation; if her further attention has been drawn to the fact that the school's board of management is willing to fund at least 14%, with room for negotiation, of the cost of construction of two classrooms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27679/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm to the Deputy that the school to which he refers has applied to my Department for major capital funding for an extension. The application has been assessed and assigned a Band 2 rating, in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for major capital projects operated by my Department.

The school currently has a staffing level of 3 mainstream teachers and also has the shared services of one Learning Support Teacher and one Resource Teacher. In 2009, the school had 80 pupils, which means that the school will not be allocated an additional mainstream teaching post for September 2010 and therefore, no deficit of mainstream classroom accommodation currently exists.

Earlier this year, the school authority applied for grant aid to replace an existing temporary mainstream classroom and resource room. As these were installed in 2007, it was considered that they should be in sufficiently good condition that they did not need to be replaced at this time. Therefore, the application was not approved. In general, the replacement of temporary accommodation is approved only where the temporary accommodation is significantly aged or in poor repair. The staffing schedule for September 2011 will be confirmed in light of enrolments in the school in the coming school year. At that point, it is open to the school authority to apply for additional accommodation, if this is required.