Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this topic for debate.

To say that Gaelscoil Phádraig in Ballybrack has had a raw deal would be a major understatement. It has been in existence for 20 years. In that time it has been in four different temporary locations. Most of that time, and currently, it has been on a 0.7 acre site with prefabricated buildings, many of which are over 15 years old, some of which have recently required emergency repairs. The contractor repairing them cannot guarantee those repairs for any period. Fifth and sixth classes, and first and second classes are thrown together. It has a tiny play area which because it has no assembly hall has to double up for use for school concerts and assemblies. The conditions are completely unacceptable. The classrooms are below the recommended size, yet this school was promised in 2005 that it would be moved to a permanent location in the nearby Archbishop McQuaid school. Ten years on and 20 years after it was set up, it is still in these completely unacceptable conditions.

The school wants to hear from the Minister of State today that the coming year will be its last year in these temporary conditions. It is shameful that it has been left there so long. It cannot abide these conditions.

At this stage the parents, teachers and students wonder what they did wrong, that they were allowed to persist in these completely unsuitable conditions. This is a disadvantaged area but despite having applied for Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools, DEIS, status Gaelscoil Phádraig did not get that, although all the children come from the same area as children in other schools given DEIS status. The Minister of State might also consider that. They have been short-changed for 20 years. It is just not good enough. The Taoiseach talked earlier about the priority he gives to investing in the future, education, upskilling our citizens and so on. How the hell can we do any of that or how can that mean anything if we leave our kids in these conditions for 20 years? That is the commitment they want. They really want some hope because they have had enough and are at the end of their tether.

The Minister of State will probably tell us that the school has been allocated a new emergency prefab. It is even frightened of getting that because it thinks that may be an excuse to put it on the long finger again and it points out that will further infringe on the tiny play area it has and crowd the school out even further. It may have to put up with it for another year but it wants a guarantee this is the last year and that it will be in the school that was allocated ten years ago, which sits less than a quarter of a mile away, and that the new buildings the special school currently in that building requires will be completed by then, and Gaelscoil Phádraig can have the school it should have had ten years ago.

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