Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue, and the Minister of State for coming in to respond. I hope his response will be positive.

This matter refers to a small Church of Ireland school in the middle of Rockcorry village which has been reconstructed over the years but as the population of the village has increased so too have the numbers attending the school. The issues worrying the parents, teachers and patrons are that the school is overcrowded, making work difficult for the principal and teachers. There are only two classrooms for a school of 36, with two waiting to see if there is room for them. This is not suitable. Projected pupil numbers for 2010 are 45 children, not taking into account the many houses planned for the village and the surrounding area. Fire safety issues are of serious concern and health and safety issues are acute, as the school stands at the junction of the Ballybay and Cootehill roads. There are no facilities for pupils with disabilities in the existing school. It is a two-storey building and the pupils must go up and down a house-type stairway. Delivery of children to the school and their collection are both hazardous because there are no proper parking spaces.

As I understand it, the school board applied for a grant under the small schools scheme and did not know there was a problem with its application until the chairman of the board rang the officials in Tullamore. He was told he needed to provide confirmation of site ownership urgently. Two days later, after hectic work, confirmation was provided by the school's solicitor, Mr. George V. Maloney, and a message of confirmation was supplied to the Department. However, it was then stated that it should have been received earlier and therefore could not be accepted.

It is a pity that the school, given its circumstances, was not advised that full legal confirmation was needed; otherwise it could certainly have acted earlier. This is the only issue preventing the school from being included in this year's finance programme. Many schools, to which financial commitments have been made, have not been proceeded with and I, therefore, urge the Minister of State to ensure that funding is made available to allow this very important project to proceed, in the interest of safety and for the benefit of less well-off children. These children cannot be provided with their special educational requirements other than in corridors, which is not acceptable in this day and age. I beg the Minister of State to return to the Department to ensure that it understands fully that this matter is urgent and that the technicality in question needs to be addressed in an appropriate manner.

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