I can confirm that the school to which the Deputy refers has applied to my Department for major capital funding.
In accordance with the published criteria for large scale building projects, the application has been assessed and assigned a band 1.1 rating. Information in respect of the current school building programme along with all assessed applications for major capital works, including this project, is available on the Department's website at www.education.ie.
The Deputy will be aware that in 2005 the school was selected as one which was suitable for delivery of a building project under the Permanent Accommodation Scheme and the school authority was offered funding of €300,000 to build an extension. The school authority accepted this offer and proceeded with the planning of this project while, at the same time, appealing the amount allocated to the project under the scheme.
Subsequently, having considered their options, the school authority notified the Department that they had decided to withdraw from the scheme as they deemed the existing site of 1.2 acres to be insufficient to cater for the extension. They requested that they be considered for inclusion in the main programme for delivery by the traditional method, in line with the project's priority band rating and the Patron offered adjacent parish land.
The progression of all large scale building projects, including this project, from initial design stage through to construction will be considered in the context of my Department's multi-annual School Building and Modernisation Programme. However, in light of competing demands on the capital budget of my Department, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the progression of the project at this time.
In the meantime, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department approved funding in the amount of €51,179.94 towards sewerage works and €5,500 towards roof repairs in 2007 and 2010 respectively. In addition, my Department recently approved funding towards the provision of a resource room for special needs purposes and the school authority has been advised accordingly.