Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to address the issue of the amalgamation of the national schools in Kanturk, County Cork. This issue has been with the Department of Education and Science and there has been correspondence between the Department's planning and building unit and the chairperson of the board of management, Canon John Terry, in respect of the amalgamation of the girls' primary school and St. Colman's boys' national school in Kanturk.

In the past two or three years, technical assessments have been carried out and further to correspondence between the chairman of the board of management and the Minister for Education and Science in November 2003, it was decided that a further technical assessment of the two buildings would be carried out. At this stage, the boards of management of both national schools have indicated to the Department their willingness to amalgamate them into a co-educational school. The issue which must be addressed is that the facilities on site in both the convent girls' primary school and St. Colman's boys' national school are housed in confined spaces. The best option from my point of view and that of the boards of management and the people of Kanturk is a new greenfield site. Will the Minister of State outline to the House what the current position is in respect of this project?

As the Minister and Minister of State will be aware, Kanturk is a growing town. Some 120 new houses are currently being built, which will put further pressure on the primary school facilities in the town. As the Minister will also know, Kanturk is to benefit from the decentralisation programme announced by the Government in the budget, which initiative I welcome. This will encourage further growth in Kanturk and we may end up with a bigger town whose school facilities have outgrown their usefulness. The willingness of the boards of management and staff of both schools in their plans for amalgamation in this case must be commended.

I ask the Minister of State to take into account the necessity for decisions to be made and communicated to the boards of management of both schools to advance the cause of the amalgamation, which has been so readily met by the boards. In many cases, such amalgamations are fraught with difficulty but in this case it is running smoothly. I ask the Minister of State to further advance this case as a matter of urgency. There is a great need for the schools to amalgamate to provide an excellent co-educational national school for the people of Kanturk given the growth projections.

See this speech in context