Vol. 497 No. 3
184 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will make funding available to Ard Scoil Rís secondary school, Dublin 9, for the building of a sports hall in view of the fact that construction has commenced on the basis of a bank loan of £232,000 and no public funds have been made available to the school for this purpose; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24906/98]
It is the policy of my Department to provide physical education halls as part of the schedule of accommodation for all new post-primary schools. A PE hall is also provided when a major extension to a school, which does not have such a facility, is being built. In addition my Department has a programme for providing PE halls as stand-alone projects at post-primary schools which do not already have this facility and a number of such projects have proceeded to construction in the current year.
The question of providing funding towards the construction of a PE hall at Ard Scoil Rís secondary school, Dublin 9, can be considered only in the context of capital available for post-primary building purposes generally.
There is no record of the receipt of an application for such funding from the authorities of Ard Scoil Rís in the planning and building unit of my Department. The Deputy can be assured that if the school authorities make such an application it will be given consideration in light of available finances and competing priorities.
