John Bruton
Ceist:27 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Written Answers. - Schools' General Purposes Facilities.
Gerry Reynolds
Ceist:30 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Theresa Ahearn
Ceist:36 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Michael Creed
Ceist:42 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
John Connor
Ceist:49 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Tom Enright
Ceist:57 Mr. Enright asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Charles Flanagan
Ceist:61 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Paul Bradford
Ceist:73 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Louis J. Belton
Ceist:79 Mr. Belton asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
Michael Lowry
Ceist:80 Mr. Lowry asked the Minister for Education if she will make provision henceforth in planned national schools for general purpose rooms.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 30, 36, 42, 49, 57, 61, 73, 79 and 80 together.
When I was appointed Minister for Education in 1987 there was a large number of primary school building projects needing attention and there was also the necessity to reduce capital expenditure in line with the Government'sProgramme for National Recovery. In the light of these conflicting sets of circumstances I found it necessary to concentrate on the provision of proper classroom accommodation and other essential facilities at national schools. Considerable progress has been made on the primary schools building programme, which would not have been possible had the provision of general purposes areas been allowed. Despite the progress made there is still a sizeable number of cases which need to be tackled.
In the years 1987 to 1989, inclusive, 163 new schools/permanent extensions were completed and in each of these years we kept within the capital allocations. Another reason for the policy of not grant-aiding GP rooms for the present is the effect of demographic factors on schools enrolments. In many cases numbers are expected to decline and space will become available which would alleviate the need for general purposes rooms.