Vol. 500 No. 2
106 Mr. Roche asked the Minister for Education and Science his Department's response to the request for the physical education hall at Loreto secondary school, Bray, County Wicklow; if he will acknowledge the urgency in this matter in view of the size of the school involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1046/99]
An application for the provision of a PE hall at Loreto secondary school, Bray, County Wicklow was received in the planning and building unit of my Department in April 1998.
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. A number of such projects are in architectural planning and some have proceeded to construction in the past year.
The question of providing a PE hall at Loreto secondary school, Bray can only be considered in the context of capital available for post-primary building purposes. Because of the huge demand for accommodation in schools throughout the country, I am not in a position at this stage to state when funding will be made available for this project.
However, I assure the Deputy that this project will continue to be reviewed in the light of available finances and competing priorities.
