272 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Education and Science his Department's views on the Health and Safety Authority report on Scoil Mhuire Fatima, Dublin Road, Drogheda, dated 3 April 2003, with particular reference to items 1-9; and if his Department will report and issue a view for each numbered paragraph. [12913/03]
Individual school authorities are responsible, in the first instance, for ensuring the safety and welfare of children and others in their care. The 2003 school building programme has now been published and full details in relation to individual projects are available on my Department's website at www.education.ie. On the basis of the budgetary allocation it was not possible to make provision in the published programme for a project at Scoil Mhuire Fatima. The budgetary allocation for 2004 and subsequent years will determine the rate of progress on applications that could not be included in this year's programme. In the meantime, the management authorities at the school should use their devolved grant to deal with any urgent health and safety works.
