Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise the issue of Dromclough national school, County Kerry. I attended the school in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has always had a high level of academic achievement. Enrolment is approximately 203 and the school has 11 teachers, three special needs assistants and a secretary. An application was made in April 2002 for new accommodation and a further application was submitted in January 2003. The school authorities received a letter from the Department of Education and Science in January 2006 confirming that approval had been granted for an eight classroom school. The school authorities, board of management, principal and teachers have been waiting for a site visit from the Department's technical team for almost two years. They believe that other schools, which received approval for building projects after January 2006, have made considerable progress and they are asking why their school has been ignored.

The school was placed on band 2.2 in the Department's banding system. The board of management believes the school should have been placed in a higher priority band on the basis that cognisance was not taken of the structural condition of the school building. Three classrooms built in 1964 are basically glass boxes measuring 49 sq. m., whereas the current regulation classroom size is 70 sq. m. The classrooms in question are a safety hazard in every sense and limited space is also bad for health. They are not linked by a corridor which means pupils must walk through working classrooms to reach the other part of the school building. Such conditions are unacceptable in this day and age.

A further section of the building was completed in 1981. Unfortunately, due to cutbacks at that time, proper materials were not used in construction. As a result, there are major structural defects with the entire section, in which I have seen subsidence. Floors have dropped, creating ledges and the roof leaks. When the heating system broke down in 2004 the school was informed by a plumber that the pipes in the section had been broken and had been leaking hot water into the ground for as many as 20 years. Water drainage pipes under the building were also broken and there were sewerage problems. Cracks have had to be filled in various parts of the section over the years.

The doors of the in-class toilet areas have to be planed regularly. A prefabricated building provided by the Department in 1991 is falling into serious disrepair. Accommodation was never provided for the resource teachers despite many applications being submitted. A sense of complete frustration led the school to buy a portakabin measuring 52 ft. by 12 ft. This is divided by a single partition into three spaces for the three resource teachers. Moneys for this purpose were primarily secured through fundraising.

The school does not have a staff room, principal's office or storage facilities in corridors or classrooms, nor does it have facilities for disabled people. The building's flat roof has outlived its lifespan. A site of 4.5 acres is available for a new building adjacent to the school grounds.

I am disappointed the Minister is not present for this debate. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Pat Carey, a fellow Kerry person and former teacher, to convey to the Minister the need to assemble a technical group to visit Dromclough national school. Other schools in County Kerry could be visited at the same time. Is the county so peripheral that the Department cannot get officials to visit us?

See this speech in context