Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is with great regret I am compelled to raise this matter. I have sought to do so in this forum and in this manner for the past three weeks and I am glad to have this opportunity to elicit answers from the Minister of State. I thought the Minister, Deputy Quinn, might make himself available, but I expect the reply the Minister of State will give is based on consultation with him. I hope his reply will address the disappointment, frustration and despair evident among the staff, pupils and parents and the extended community of Edenderry with regard to Scoil Bhríde and Gaelscoil Éadan Doire. Such emotions result from recent contact made by the Department to the two principals concerned. They were asked by the Department to apply for increased temporary accommodation to meet their enrolment needs in September 2013.

Such requests are normally sought and made in January of the preceding year, at the latest. Even more alarming and galling, however, is that these schools had been included in the rapid delivery programme in December 2011. In the first instance, they followed applications highlighting the request for their establishment to meet the demand arising from population growth in Edenderry. Subsequently, Scoil Bhríde was established in 2007 and located on temporary accommodation in the grounds of Edenderry GAA club. The school's pupil numbers have grown annually to a current total of 333, with 70 new pupils enrolled for September 2013.

In addition to the mainstream school, there are four autistic spectrum disorder, or ASD, special classes. The new school was designed to accommodate two more ASD classes with waiting lists already in place for them.

Gaelscoil Éadan Doire was founded in 2008 and operates in an old factory which is both dangerous and unhealthy. Many classrooms have no windows and no yard outside. The space available cannot be further partitioned. The staff are struggling on a daily basis to keep the school open.

The beauty of these projects was, and is, that they are to be built on one site. The site was purchased by the State and appropriately zoned by Offaly County Council. It was to be serviced by a new link road, which was agreed in conjunction with the locality and the local authority. The schools were designed by the relevant section in the Department of Education and Skills. School accommodation was agreed, while planning was sought and granted. Tenders were sought and agreed, while contracts and schedules were agreed by the OPW in conjunction and co-operation with the schools and their boards of management. This was before the bombshell decision which I mentioned earlier.

The rapid delivery programme was developed in 2007. It was an innovative response to the need to deliver schools quickly in areas of population growth and where existing provisions could not meet demand. In a press release last September, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, celebrated a number of projects under this scheme. For example, the 2012 programme involved four new Dublin schools in Mulhuddart, Balbriggan, Swords and Lucan, as well as two new extensions in Swords and Portarlington. They delivered 1,700 additional places with pupils benefiting from modern, efficient buildings with an improved learning environment. I have seen this at first hand in Tullamore where an Educate Together facility was built in this format.

The Minister of State and his Government colleagues know the costs and benefits involved. They also know the strains concerning increased school numbers, as evidenced by today's CSO report. Last September, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, stated that rapid delivery programmes provide fantastic, modern school accommodation. If that is so, why have the Minister and the Minister of State turned their backs on these schools, given the commitments, temporary rental accommodation costs, poor conditions and bona fideefforts by school management?

I am asking for this situation to be resolved forthwith. The Department should re-engage with the commitment that was given for September 2013. Even at this stage, if the agreed contracts and tenders were put in place, we could have that facility by October or November. I ask the Minister of State to respond positively considering that he has had three weeks' notice of my intention to raise this matter concerning the current situation in Edenderry.

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