Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I am glad the Minister can be present this evening. I wish to make a special request of her. The proposed new national school for Ballybunion is based on the amalgamation of Scoil Pio Naofa, the boys national school, and St. Joseph's girls national school. The schools are in two old buildings that are structurally substandard. Scoil Pio Naofa was built in 1929 and is a small, two classroom, damp, stone building. Both schools are in designated rural disadvantaged areas. A file for a new school in Ballybunion was opened 30 years ago in the Department of Education. In 2000, the staff of Scoil Pio Naofa and St. Joseph's agreed to amalgamate in a new building. The Bishop of Kerry agreed in 2004 to release a large greenfield site on Church Road in Ballybunion for the new school. On 13 January 2006, the Department of Education and Science agreed funding for a new building. The boards of management of both schools agreed to a generic plan to speed up the process because Scoil Pio Naofa in particular was extremely substandard. On 11 June 2006, the design team was selected. The Ballybunion project has now reached the final stage of the six stages it had to complete and is waiting for the announcement of a contractor and the signing of a contract.

Recently, rats were found in a prefab attached to Scoil Pio Naofa, an incident that was highlighted in the Kerry's Eye newspaper, which stated:

Rats force kids from classroom. Health of pupils a worry at Ballybunion prefab.

The Kerryman newspaper reported: "The principal of Scoil Pio Naofa, Ballybunion, Eibhlín Walsh, said that she fears for the health and safety of the school boys who were forced to study in a dangerous 20 year-old pre-fab." These pupils had to be moved to a holiday lodge across the road from the school. I understand the school's principal contacted the Department but the latter was only prepared to pay for the rental of the holiday lodge being used by the students. The situation resulted in an editorial in The Kerryman which stated:

sub-standard education facilities in Kerry have become an all-too familiar news story over the last decade.

The context in which these unacceptable situations arise is important; occurring at a time of unprecedented wealth in this country.

When it comes to the welfare and education of our children, the State stands accused of hypocrisy and double-standards of the most serious form.

On the one hand, we boast an education system and standards in this country that remain the envy of most countries in the developed world. At the same time, successive governments refused to acknowledge and failed to act on a situation where some of these education standards were attained and maintained in conditions more akin to war-torn or famine stricken nations.

The plight of the board of management, the principal and the school of Scoil Pio Naofa did not develop overnight. We now know that a proper school was wanting in Ballybunion long before the timber began to rot and rats decided to move in.

A former principal of a school in England wrote in a letter to the newspaper that he felt embarrassed as an Irishman when he read the story about rat-infested conditions in Ballybunion school. He became aware of the dire conditions in many Kerry schools since returning from England.

I urge the Minister to ensure that the tender documents are accepted so that a contractor can be appointed immediately after Christmas to commence work. It is unacceptable that the children are expected to receive their education in a holiday home. Account should also be taken of the conditions in the convent school and the two stone classrooms. I thank the Minister for attending for this Adjournment matter. Will she give me a positive response that I can pass on to the parents concerned?

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