Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 June 2004
161 Mr. Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Education and Science the steps his Department intends to take to deal with overcrowding in a school (details supplied) in County Kildare in which enrolment continues to rise; and when the proposed extension to the school will be allowed to proceed. [19012/04]
View answer173 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding an application by a school (details supplied) for capital funding. [19041/04]
View answer174 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention was drawn to the fact that in September 120 first year students will join a school (details supplied) in County Kildare seeking capital funding for an extension and that this figure is 30% greater than any other year in the school’s history; and if his attention was further been drawn to the effect that such numbers will have on the safety and security of the school and the problems in organising classes due to the positioning of prefabs. [19042/04]
View answer175 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention was drawn to the fact that a school (details supplied) in County Kildare with a catchment area of 17 primary schools, including two primary schools in the town, applied either years ago for capital funding and is still on his Department’s list; and his plans to advance the application. [19043/04]
View answer176 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention was drawn to the support for and concerns of a number of multinational companies about the development of a school (details supplied) in County Kildare; and his views on overcoming the concerns of such companies. [19044/04]
View answer178 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Education and Science the meetings his Department had with a local authority in determining the population figures for an area (details supplied) when a school seeks capital funding for a project. [19046/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 161, 173 to 176, inclusive, and 178 together.
The large-scale building project for the school referred to by the Deputies is listed in section 8 of the 2004 school building programme which is published on my Department's website at www.education.ie. This project is at an advanced stage of architectural planning, detail design and bill of quantities. It was assigned a band 2 rating in accordance with the published criteria for prioritising large scale projects.
The budget announcement regarding multi-annual capital envelopes will enable me to adopt a multi-annual framework for the schools building programme. It will give greater clarity on projects that are not progressing in this year's programme. I will make a further announcement during the year. Three prefabricated classrooms were approved for the school as an interim measure and to alleviate accommodation difficulties. Its school authority, County Kildare vocational education committee, is aware of the measure.
The country is divided into post-primary catchment areas and each area has a post-primary education centre. The areas were drawn up in the late 1960s in the context of the free education scheme. The catchment boundaries were determined following consultation with local educational interests and the intention was that certain primary schools would feed exclusively into each centre. My Department endeavours to provide accommodation to meet the educational needs of the catchment area.
As much as 47% of the school's intake comes from outside the catchment area. Apart from the fact that this is not a sustainable position, taking almost half of the pupil intake from outside of its catchment area impacts negatively on at least one other local school in the general area. It is a matter for the school's management authority to limit its enrolment to within its catchment area. Ongoing dialogue with local authority officials is an integral element of the workload of officials of my Department's school planning section. They work on a broad range of issues, including the changing demographics of an area.
