The school referred to by the Deputy was invited to participate in a devolved initiative to enable it provide additional permanent accommodation within a maximum grant level of €350,000.
This initiative devolves control to school authorities over the planning and construction phases of small-scale additional permanent accommodation works.
If there is a shortfall in funding, the options open to the board of management are as follows: reduce the scale of the works to stay within the limit of the grant; use funds allocated by the Department under the terms of the grant scheme for minor works to supplement the grant provided such funds are not required for more urgent and immediate works; or, fund the balance of the works from their own resources.
My Department does not intend increasing the amount of the grant offered to the school. This provision is necessary because a central tenet of the devolved scheme is that a school authority, granted discretion and guaranteed funding to enable immediate progress on its accommodation needs, must equally accept responsibility for prioritisation, control of costs and ensuring value for money.
