Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2009
1110 Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 588 of 20 October 2009, the reason the school has been allocated a band two rating when, in fact, a large part of the school catchment is contained within an electoral division which has shown one of the highest population growths here in Census 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38432/09]
View answerAll applications for large scale capital funding are assessed against published prioritisation criteria which were formulated following consultation with the Education Partners. Under the criteria, each project is assigned a Band Rating which reflects the type and extent of works needed and the urgency attaching to them. Full details in relation to the prioritisation criteria are available on my Department's website www.education.ie. The school to which the Deputy refers currently has six mainstream teachers. The demographics for the school's catchment indicate that it will grow to an eight teacher school. Given the level of additionality involved relative to the school's existing accommodation, the extent of the works needed, therefore, merits a band 2 rating.
