Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 May 2013
92. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to publish a revised school building list; and if a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath will be included on this list. [26406/13]
View answer93. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to publish a revised school building list; and if a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath will be included on this list. [26407/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together. My Department's over-riding objective is to ensure that every child has access to a physical school place and that our school system is in a position to cope with increasing pupil numbers. To ensure that this is achieved, the delivery of major school projects to meet significant demographic demands nationally will be the main focus for capital investment in schools in the coming years. The Five Year Construction Plan that I announced in March 2012 is focused on meeting those demographic needs.
In addition to the Five Year Plan, my Department is committed to publishing a detailed annual programme in relation to planned expenditure on individual major school projects commencing construction. The first of these, which related to 2012 expenditure, was published in December 2011 and the 2013 construction programme, representing the second phase of the five-year plan, was published in December 2012. Details are available on my Department's website at www.education.ie.
However, there are a number of proposed school building projects, including the schools referred to by the Deputy, which simply could not be included in the five year plan. The Deputy will be aware that my Department has continued to progress projects outside the five year plan to the final planning stages in anticipation of further funding becoming available to my Department in future years. A building project for the first named school requires a site to be identified and secured. A building project for the second named school is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning and a stage 2(b) submission is currently with my Department for review.
Information in respect of the current status of all assessed applications for major capital works is available on my Department's website which is updated regularly throughout the year.
