505 Mr. D'Arcy asked the Minister for Education and Science the position regarding the construction of the new building at Ballyoughter national school, Ballyoughter, Gorey, County Wexford; and the stage of the building in this regard. [9858/02]

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 accommodation 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 proposed building project at Ballyoughter national school will proceed to architectural planning, as soon as possible, under the Government's expanded building programme.