Published: Friday, 16th October, 2009 9:00am

Offaly schools await works as Dept holds on to budget - Enright

Offaly Fine Gael Deputy Olwyn Enright has denounced the Department of Education and Science's failure to spend almost half of its 2009 Budget as further highlighting the chaos of the school building programme.

Deputy Enright said this failure to spend money already allocated to the Department comes at a time that there are several schools in Offaly waiting for years to progress through the Department's School Buildings Programme, including national schools in Ballinagar, Dromakeenan, Edenderry, Crinkill in Birr and Tullamore College.

"I have been contacted directly by angry parents, whose children are attending schools that are waiting for various works to be carried out under the School Building Programme," said Deputy Enright. "I know that some schools in Offaly waiting for works under this programme have being doing so for years. It is a disgrace that this money is literally lying idle while teachers and students are working and doing their best in less then favourable conditions."

She said the failure of the Department to spend the capital allocated for school buildings this year, highlights the "extraordinary and chaotic management" of the programme.

The deputy said it would be a "scandalous waste" if the money goes back into the Estimates Programme, if it's not spent.

"The Minister needs to re-examine his priorities and look at the schools in County Offaly, who are more then ready to fill the vacuum in his building programme," she added. Deputy Enright is calling on the Minister for Education to clarify his strategy for delivering the School Building Programme with less than three months to go before the end of the year.