Vol. 550 No. 4
911 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Education and Science the applications for major capital works from schools in the Dublin North West constituency which have been made to his Department; and the stage which each application is at. [9398/02]
Information concerning building projects is not maintained within my Department on a constituency basis. If the Deputy has a specific query concerning an individual school I will be pleased to provide details of same.
912 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education and Science the action he is taking to expedite the granting of approval, tendering and construction at Loreto secondary school, Balbriggan, County Dublin. [9399/02]
My Department recently advised the school authority to put in place a full design team – that is a suitably qualified architect, quantity surveyor, structural engineer and mechanical and electrical engineer – for the proposed extension to Loreto secondary school. The process of architectural planning will commence once the design team is appointed.
913 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education and Science the action he is taking to expedite having a new school building constructed for Hedgestown national school, Lusk, County Dublin. [9400/02]
The allocation for primary buildings in 2002 is €153.6 million, which is a record level of funding and demonstrates this Government's commitment to improving accommodation in primary schools. This is almost four times the previous Government's investment in 1997.
Due to the greatly increased level of activity in the 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.
Hedgestown national school, Lusk, County Dublin, is being extended and refurbished as part of the Government's programme and is currently in architectural planning. The project will continue to the preparation of tender documents and the invitation of tenders, as soon as possible, under the expanded building programme.
