I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers recently submitted a proposal to my Department in relation to how its project, for a new greenfield site school, might proceed this year without incurring Departmental expenditure.
This proposal will be examined by the School Planning and Building Unit in my Department and a response will issue directly to the school authority. The examination will be strictly governed by the capital allocation available in 2009 and the priority attaching to the project under the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects, because, what is being proposed, will create a liability on the 2009 capital budget. Any other approach could potentially displace higher priority projects which would be unfair to schools that cannot provide start up funding for their projects.
Having said that, I want to assure the Deputy that the new building for the school in question will be delivered when the requisite funding is available and on a timeline consistent with the priority attaching to the project under the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects.
