Vol. 552 No. 1
666 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Education and Science when he intends to appoint a design team for new buildings at St. Brendan's College, Woodbrook, Bray, County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11146/02]
The allocation for post-primary buildings in 2002 is €182.31 million, which is a record level of funding and demonstrates the Government's commitment to improving accommodation in post-primary schools. This is almost four times the previous Government's investment in 1997.
Due to the greatly increased level of investment in the post-primary buildings area since the 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.
The building unit of my Department is in receipt of a request for additional accommodation and refurbishment from St. Brendan's College, Bray, County Wicklow, to cater for a long-term projected enrolment of 425 pupils. A schedule of overall accommodation was prepared and was accepted by the school authorities. Officials of my Department recently visited the school to prepare the schedule of suggested future use of accommodation and the schedule of residual accommodation. When the schedules are prepared and accepted by the school authorities, the question of appointing a design team will be considered as soon as possible under the expanded building programme.
