Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I the need to move on the project for a new building to replace the Kolbe Special School at Block Road, Portlaoise. The school badly needs new accommodation. Good progress has been made in accommodation in the county with many mainstream schools having been built in the last six or seven years. However, the Kolbe centre urgently needs the same. There are 39 pupils with severe and complex intellectual and physical disabilities and very high needs. The staff and board of management are very committed and the parents are also very committed and supportive, but the accommodation is only two solid rooms and eight prefabs which have been added piecemeal over the past 30 years as the school grew and more pupils came in. It started as a very small facility and the problem is that the actual school building has never grown beyond that. All there is is a collection of prefabs, some of which are of very poor quality and are unsuitable as classrooms. There are issues with noise, they are very difficult to heat and some have signs of dampness. I visited the school accompanied by staff and parents and one can see its physical shortcomings. It is a very difficult environment in which the staff must work and try to manage children with special needs. It is very difficult to provide the services for children who have those very complex, considerable needs.

I have made the case for the Kolbe school since 2011 when Deputy Ruairí Quinn was the Minister and I make it again today. I welcome the presence of the Minister for Education and Skills to take this issue.

It is a very difficult environment for these special needs children to learn or progress in. We all know that children need a good environment in which to learn and grow, but children with such complex needs especially need a good environment. One issue with this school is that because of the pupils' special needs, a lot of space is required for their equipment, of which there is a great deal. It is not only a case of providing a standard classroom such as in a mainstream school. There has been some progress. According to a written answer to a Parliamentary Question on 23 March, the project brief is now being finalised. Can the Minister confirm that is the case? The answer stated it was being finalised and that this was part of the preparatory work necessary to facilitate the progression of the project. Have we moved into that stage? The site has been acquired and I understand the necessary transfers have taken place of contracts and so on and things are ready to move on. We want to see if this can be moved to the next stage. It is in the six year construction programme. Can the Minister confirm that funds are available for this and that money will not be an obstacle in moving the project forward? We need to see some definite movement on this.

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