Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter. I refer to the Le Chéile Educate Together school at Mornington, the official address of which is County Louth, although the school is actually in County Meath. On a technical point, it is in Drogheda, County Meath. It is a very successful national school. The enrolment next year is expected to be 366. The school is seven years old, multi-denominational and doing extremely well. It has the support of parents from far and near. However, the school has no fixed buildings and consists of all prefabs. Children who are now seven years old will be leaving a primary school which has only prefabricated buildings.

A site is available and the teaching staff are excellent. Currently, the waiting list for next autumn has 183 applicants for 56 places on a first come basis and 197 children are already on the waiting list for the following year. This is a school in great need. The teaching staff have been very supportive of all the children.

It is not acceptable that a decision has not been reached on a design team for the school. The advertisement has been published in the EU Journal with a closing date of 13 February, three months ago but no progress has been reported. Is it a fact that the submissions lie unopened on the desk of the Minister for Education and Science and that the design team may never be appointed unless those envelopes are opened and the quotations are examined? A 16-classroom school has been agreed. Everything is working well for this school but they have no building. Those of us who have been teachers know that prefabricated classrooms are too hot in summer and too cold in winter. This is a most inefficient and ineffective way of running a school. These prefabricated classrooms have been rented for almost seven years and this is a waste of money.

The parents, teachers, students and principal want to know the current position regarding the appointment of the design team which should have been announced on 1 May. The former Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Mary Hanafin, visited the school recently so before she left her desk to go to the Department of Social and Family Affairs she knew exactly what was the situation regarding the school. The parents, teachers and the students are demanding action from the Minister of State tonight.

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