Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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275. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding a capital funding building project application from a secondary school (details supplied) in County Mayo; his views that the current condition of the school renders it a health and safety hazard; if he will outline a possible timeframe for the delivery of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9128/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The school building project referred to by the Deputy is at an advanced stage of architectural planning. All Statutory Approvals have been received and the Design Team are working on the completion of stage 2(b) of Architectural Planning. Due to competing demands on the Department's capital budget imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of additional school accommodation to meet increasing demographic requirements it was not possible to include this project in the 5 year construction programme announced in March 2012.

School building projects, including the project referred to by the Deputy, which were previously initiated but not included in the current five year construction programme will continue to be progressed to final planning stages in anticipation of the possibility of further funds being available to the Department in the future. In the meantime, for works that are of a very urgent nature, it is open to the school authorities to consider if the works in question qualify for funding under my Department's Emergency Works Scheme. An emergency is deemed to be a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action and, in the case of a school, if not corrected would prevent the school or part thereof from opening. Details of the Scheme, together with an application form for grant assistance, can be accessed on my Department's website.