Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

This issue is one that virtually every Member experiences in his or her constituency. I refer to large prefabricated school buildings, by and large, portakabins, inadequate conditions, inadequate provision for children and schools awaiting a permanent site and permanent recognition. The matter is the bane of the primary school system.

The school to which I refer is Glasnevin Educate Together, which was founded in September 2002 under the patronage of Educate Together. It has a special unit for children with autistic spectrum disorder, which was opened in September 2003 by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern. In the six years since it opened, numbers have increased steadily. There are currently 210 children and there is a waiting list of 219 children, who would gladly come to the school in 2009 but unfortunately that is impossible in the present circumstances. The school is viable but it is awaiting recognition from the Department of Education and Science. The result of the refusal to grant permanent status means that the school is deprived of the minor works grant, which is worth €9,163 this year. I tabled a question on this last month. The effect of non-recognition is that necessary grants for the maintenance of the school are denied.

The school has a student population representing 25 nationalities, a sizeable number. It is dealing with major ethnic diversity that requires extra attention, facilities and support. The building is drafty, inadequate, old, cold and cramped. It has unsanitary toilet facilities and portakabins. Even the unit for autism is located in a portakabin. The schoolyard is tiny and there is very little space for the children to play in, with the result that they must go to the local GAA club's playing fields for physical education. There is no hall for school events. The facilities are minimal. Teachers, staff, pupils and parents are working together in difficult circumstances to provide quality education and are not getting assistance they deserve from the Department of Education and Science. Last year, there was a glimmer of light on the horizon when the Department sanctioned the acquisition of a three-acre site for the school and requested the OPW to source same. However, the school was informed recently that, because of cuts in capital expenditure, the Department had postponed the site acquisition and, therefore, it has gone down the tubes.

The school is in limbo as it has neither permanent recognition nor permanent accommodation. It has not received the grants and additional funding to which it should be entitled at this time. Everybody is working and studying in unsatisfactory, inadequate conditions. The Minister of State can imagine what it is like with cold, foggy and wet days coming one after the other, while the exact opposite is the case in the summer when it is sticky and unbearably hot. I call on him to make progress. I would like the Department to show its intent to address the situation in the short rather than the long term.

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