Grant aid of €3,500 per science laboratory was available to all schools at post-primary level to enable them provide the revised science syllabus for the junior certificate examination. In addition, further funding was provided to schools which did not have major capital investment to their science facilities since 1995. These grants have been paid to all schools that notified my Department that they were opting into the revised syllabus. The school in question made no application for grant aid under this scheme.
All schools that did not apply for funding in 2003 were recently sent a circular, M42/04, advising them how to apply for funding in 2004. The closing date for receipt of applications is 29 October 2004. In addition, architectural planning has been completed for a proposed large-scale building project for the school referred to by the Deputy and the project is listed in section 8 of the 2004 school building programme which is published on my Department's website at www.education.ie. The project has been assigned a ‘band 2’ rating by my Department 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 school building programme, which in turn will give greater clarity regarding projects that are not progressing to tender in this year's programme, including this particular school. I will make a further announcement in that regard during the year.