Vol. 560 No. 3
283 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Education and Science the way in which the schools modernisation fund is to function; the funding available for same; the timetable for implementation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2781/03]
Consistent with An Agreed Programme for Government, it is proposed that every school building will attain set modern standards. This will be achieved through a multi-annual programme to be called the schools modernisation fund which will be financed by the National Development Finance Agency. The NDFA will ensure that the maximum appropriate use of public private partnerships in school projects is achieved. To assist this programme a national assessment and inventory of the condition of school buildings will be completed and regularly updated. Changes will be introduced to the method of delivering building projects in such a way as to maximise the level of devolved activity at local level. There will also continue to be a separate capital programme as part of the annual capital programme.
The initial steps in these matters have been taken with the commencement of discussions with the Department of Finance on multi-annual funding. In addition, this year's capital programme contains a list of 20 primary schools for inclusion in a pilot initiative to allow small primary schools undertake building and modernisation works on a devolved basis. It is expected that this pilot scheme will be applied widely over the lifetime of the Government.
Following the recent pilot inventory of school accommodation in County Kildare, my Department is at present undertaking a detailed assessment of the pilot phase of the inventory to determine the exact nature and extent of the nationwide survey having regard to available resources.
