Vol. 547 No. 3
374 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will reimburse the Letterfrack National School, Connemara, County Galway, for work carried out on the school using local contractors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3165/02]
I can confirm that my Department has received an application from the school in question for retrospective grant-aid towards improvement works funded by the board of management. The Deputy will appreciate that my Department has a large number of school building projects on hand at present. Within this constraint, I can assure the Deputy that the application from the school in question is being dealt with as quickly as possible.
375 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the status of the funding application from Clifden Community School, County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3166/02]
The allocation for post-primary build ings in 2002 is €182.31 million, which is a record level of funding and demonstrates this Government's commitment to improving the accommodation situation in post primary schools. This is almost four times the previous Government's investment in 1997.
Because of the greatly increased level of investment in the post-primary buildings area since this Government came into office, there has been a substantial increase in the number of major and minor building projects in construction and this has given rise to a record level of building and refurbishment activity.
Clifden Community School is to be re-developed as part of the Government's programme and my Department recently interviewed candidates for a design team. The question of commencing architectural planning will be considered as soon as possible under the expanded building programme.
