Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I appreciate him choosing this Topical Issue. It is an important issue that I have raised in the House previously. I particularly thank the Minister for Education and Skills for taking time to come in himself to deal with the issue.

The Minister is still relatively new to this brief and I wish him well in his challenging position. While the Minister is new to his position, the staff and students of St. Michael's House special school in Skerries are in the same position they have been in for many years. I am sure the Minister will have read in The Irish Timesthis morning that they have been in temporary accommodation for 36 years.

The school has a longstanding application in for a new school building and I have raised this on many occasions in the Chamber. In a Topical Issue reply I received in March last on this issue from the Minister's predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, stated:

No effort will be spared in trying to progress the situation. It is an important project for us.

However, there is no evidence of this.

I am disappointed by the slow development of much-needed school provision by the Government. In fact, disappointed does not even cover it. It is devastating that so little progress has been made.

I understand a site has been identified and purchased. The site was the issue for so long. When a site is identified and acquired, there are still further delays on other matters.

In the previous Government, Labour Party Ministers prioritised the provision of new schools in the worst of economic times. In 2015, I brought the then Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, to St. Michael's House in Skerries to see for herself the current building and how inadequate it is to meet the needs of the pupils. Deputy O'Sullivan and the Department officials recognised the need but the prioritisation of the provision of new schools has been too slow.

When will we see works commence on site? That is key for the people. The principal, staff and pupils and their families deserve a proper answer. They deserve a timeline for this to happen and I hope that in his response the Minister will provide that.

The current building is unfit for purpose. The school has been housed there for 36 years. Unfortunately, the building is well past its use-by date. It is an old farmhouse. I have visited it several times. The mounting level of repairs needed just to keep the building in basic condition is financially onerous.

The school received prefabs in recent years due to the poor state of the building and the benefits are acknowledged by everyone involved, but these are not long-term solutions and are merely putting the finger in the dam. In the summer, it can be too hot to have classes indoors. In the winter, the school can be very cold.

Also, the school is at maximum capacity. There is no more space for any increase in the student body. Currently, pupils are only admitted when an existing pupil finishes his or her time at the school. With a maximum capacity of 30 pupils supported by 17 dedicated staff, the number of spaces that crop up is small. Many families are left on waiting lists and are living with perpetual disappointment and, of course, great concern.

With a new building, St. Michael's House could increase its service provision to 92 pupils, thus trebling its current number and giving hope to many others who are waiting for places. What a transformation that would be.

We talk about this being a time of economic recovery, and it is. Unemployment is returning to boom time levels, Exchequer receipts are up and we finally have some funds to invest back into the State. We need to look after our most vulnerable citizens.

The students in St Michael’s special school need and deserve a facility which meets a good standard. In a new school, they can thrive and fulfil their potential. They cannot do it in the current building.

The staff in St. Michael's House are a credit to the teaching profession and to the public sector generally. They are being inhibited from doing their job to the best of their ability by the inadequacy of their building but they are not the real losers. The people who lose the most are the pupils. They are not getting the facilities they deserve and which would allow them to thrive and fulfil their individual potential.

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