Vol. 483 No. 3
384 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Science the current progress, if any, on the application from a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath for necessary additional accommodation at the school which has been agreed by his Department; if he will undertake that the necessary funding will be provided to permit this accommodation to be put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20419/97]
386 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Science when full approval for the provision of additional class rooms will be given to a school (details supplied) in County Westmeath. [20421/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 384 and 396 together.
The current position on the application to which the Deputies refer is that my Department's architectural service is arranging to visit the school to assess the school site and initiate architectural planning. The school manager was advised of this recently. When all the planning work has been completed, a decision on the timing of the tender and contract process will be taken in the light of other priority projects, and available financial resources.
385 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Science when the necessary finance will be provided by his Department to permit a new permanent school (details supplied) in County Westmeath to commence early in 1998; if he will give details of the physical accommodation that will be provided together with a full costing in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20420/97]
The architectural planning of the extension project at the school in question is at an early stage of the architectural planning process. The new building comprises general classrooms, specialist rooms and ancillary accommodation. At this stage of design a cost plan has not yet been prepared. In any event it is my policy not to divulge the estimated cost of projects prior to the tendering process as to do so may compromise the tendering procedure. The question of proceeding to construction will not arise until the architectural design process has been successfully completed.
