414 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education and Science the progress which has been made to provide the proposed new amalgamated primary school (details supplied) in County Waterford. [5318/02]

The allocation for primary buildings in 2002 is €153.6 million, which is a record level of funding and demonstrates this Government's commitment to improving the accommodation situation in primary schools. This is almost four times the previous Government's investment in 1997.

Due to the greatly increased level of activity in the primary buildings area since the Government came into office, there has been a substantial increase in the number of major and minor building projects in construction and this has given rise to a record level of building and refurbishment activity.

A building project at school in question is currently in architectural planning. The project will continue to the preparation of tender documents and the invitation of tenders, as soon as possible, under the expanded building programme.