Vol. 520 No. 5
176 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Science the primary schools in County Westmeath from which he has received requests for financial assistance towards the improvement of safety measures at these schools; the current status of these applications; when the assistance sought will be granted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16239/00]
Funding for work related to improving safety measures outside the vested area of a school is a matter for the relevant local authorities. All other cases are considered on their merits.
Issues relating to health and safety are dealt with as an intrinsic part of the process of addressing the accommodation needs of individual schools. Considerable staff resources would have to be diverted to the task of identifying the safety components of a large number of projects in order to provide the information requested by the Deputy. In view of the substantial volume of applications being dealt with at present, the level of resources required to compile the information sought would not be warranted. Should the Deputy require information on any particular school I would be glad to provide it.
