asked the Minister for Education the plans, if any, she has for the provision of extra improvements and facilities at the No. 2 national school, Celbridge, County Kildare; if she has satisfied herself that adequate fire safety and health requirements can be met by the existing building; the current state of negotiations between the school manager and her Department in regard to the provision of extra facilities; the remaining requirements on either side; when it will be possible to allow the project to proceed if there is sufficient finance to allow the project to proceed in 1988; if obstacles other than finance exist; the way in which she proposes to ensure that this community is assured its basic right to a proper modern school; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Celbridge (County Kildare) School.
The application for grant aid from the No. 2 national school Celbridge, County Kildare, concerns a plan to refurbish and extend an existing national school building which they have acquired. A sketch scheme submitted by the school is acceptable in principle to my Department. Because, however, of the pressure on the capital available to my Department for the national schools building programme, I will not be in a position in the coming financial year to provide finance for the project, or to authorise the next step in the architectural process, which is the preparation of tender documentation.
I accept that the condition of the buildings at present occupied by the school is unsatisfactory. The authorities have not asked my Department to consider specifically the fire safety and health factors mentioned by the Deputy. However, I am asking my Department's professional advisers to discuss these matters with the school authorities to establish whether any financial assistance could be made available to them in the short term to enable them to improve existing conditions pending the provision of the major building scheme.