John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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231. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of primary schools that have requested funding from his Department to carry out fire safety works in the past three years by county, in tabular form; the number of requests approved and rejected by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39285/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The information sought by the Deputy is attached in the format requested.

I wish to assure the Deputy that my Department takes the safety of children, teachers and all those who work in schools extremely seriously. My Department has recently announced a range of extra measures to address fire safety concerns in schools which include:

- fire safety audit of a representative sample of 25 to 30 schools constructed over the last 20 years to confirm compliance with Fire Safety Certificates

- review of all major building projects currently in process to ensure compliance with BCAR

Where a school authority has a significant concern in relation to fire safety they should employ a Fire Safety Consultant to carry out an audit of their school building and if works are required to address these concerns the school should immediately submit an Emergency Works Application for funding to my Department.

Also it is open to primary schools to utilise their Minor Works Grant, to address such works as appropriate.

The applications highlighted overleaf may have been refused for a number of reasons, including that the application had already been submitted, or that the issue was not primarily a fire safety issue.

I can assure the Deputy that where fire safety works are requested my officials ensure to carry them out where warranted as a matter of priority.