Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

That is correct. I thank the Acting Chairman. I am still delighted that the Minister for Health and Children is here and perhaps when she visits the constituency in two weeks' time she will have more positive news.

I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter in the House. The list of schools in County Clare awaiting decisions from the Department of Education and Science to proceed with necessary infrastructural projects is increasing by the day. This evening I raise the issue of the future of St. Joseph's secondary school in Tulla and the future provision of secondary school education in east Clare. The management and teachers of this school have been frustrated for a number of years in their efforts to acquire a new school on a greenfield site. First, the school faced the difficulty of trying to acquire a suitable site for the new school and then it experienced some delays in the planning process. Those problems have now been overcome. The board of management has identified a suitable site which is adjacent to the village. Clare County Council has granted full planning permission to the board to allow it to make an entrance to the site for the purpose of developing sports facilities. Having overcome all these difficulties the school is now being hampered by the Department's delay in providing a written statement confirming that a new school is the Minister's preferred option in the long term.

The case for a new school on a greenfield site is well known. Since its foundation, St. Joseph's school has had an excellent reputation throughout east Clare. It is an educational centre of excellence and has attracted pupils not alone from its neighbouring parishes of Kilkishen, O'Callaghan's Mills, Feakle and Clooney but also from Bodyke, Crusheen and Sixmilebridge. The population of Tulla has increased by 15% between 2002 and 2006. Tulla is designated as an area of strategic development in the east Clare development plan published by Clare County Council in 2005. Enrolment in the local primary school has increased by 32% for the same period with increased enrolments also recorded in other primary schools in the catchment area, namely in Kilkishen, O'Callaghan's Mills, Feakle and Clooney.

It makes far more sense to build a new school than to attempt to extend the present school. In any event the current site at 2.5 acres is too small to allow for a school, a sports hall and playing facilities. A total of 11 of the 22 general classrooms are currently in prefabs and there is no space for any more. The present school is also located at a busy junction and is a hazard to pupils trying to get in and out of school every morning and evening. If the Minister for Education and Science ever decides to come to Clare, I hope he will visit the school to assess the situation for himself.

I commend the teachers and management of St. Joseph's on their foresight in the provision of services for children with autism. Three autistic children are currently being catered for in St. Joseph's and the school is committed to catering for a class of six students.

In order to progress the necessary remedial works at the school over the past four years, St. Joseph's had availed of grant assistance under the summer works scheme and had planned for further works this year. I would urge the Minister for Education and Science to adopt a different attitude to that of his predecessor. He should stamp his own authority in the Department by reviewing this decision and reinstating the schools summer works scheme, not alone for the secondary school in Tulla but for all the schools throughout my constituency for whom this scheme was so vital.

In order for St. Joseph's secondary school to progress this matter all that is required is a written statement from the Minister confirming his support for a new school in a greenfield site. There should be no need for a further technical assessment by his Department as this has already been completed prior to the sanction of the ASD class.

Schools like St. Joseph's secondary school in Tulla, which have a record of being proactive in the development of their schools, should not be penalised. There is a limited timeframe and a window of opportunity for the Minister for Education and Science to act in his new brief. It would be unforgivable if he fails to do so. I appeal to the Minister for Health and Children to put pressure on her colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, to issue the necessary letter straight away and let St. Joseph's secondary school in Tulla get on with what it has done successfully for generations — educating the children of east Clare.

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