The Deputy will be aware that the over-riding objective of Education capital expenditure is to meet the demographic challenge facing the education system whereby total pupil enrolment in both primary and post-primary schools is expected to grow by around 107,000 additional pupils between 2012 and 2019 - over 70,000 at primary level and over 35,000 at post primary - and will continue to rise at post primary level to the year 2026 at least. The 5 Year Construction Plan prioritises major school projects in areas where future significant demographic changes have been identified. In that regard, it was not possible to progress all school building projects concurrently. The building project in relation to the school, referred to by the Deputy, has not been withdrawn from the school building programme. This school project in addition to other school projects that are currently within the Department's architectural planning process but which were not included in the Five Year Plan, are being progressed to the final planning stages in anticipation of further funding becoming available to my Department in future years. However, I am not in position to provide an indicative timeline for the progression of those projects to construction stage at this time.
With regard to the amount of funding spent on prefabs at the school referred to by the Deputy, I can confirm that the following rental payments have been made since 2009. 2009 - nil; 2010 - €3,908.30; 2011 - €12,584.00; 2012 - €12,688.00; 2013 - €12,792.00. In addition, once off site costs associated with the rental of the prefab amounted to €15,067.47 in 2010.
