Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I mean no disrespect to the Minister of State when I say that it is disappointing that a Minister from the Department of Education could not here to take this matter or the preceding one. There is a Minister from the Department in the building, but clearly she is otherwise occupied.

I was made aware early this week that, towards the end of last week, Ardee Educate Together National School received confirmation from the Department of Education that its new school project has been postponed. Last August, local Government party representatives appeared in the local media to tell us all that the school would proceed to construction shortly. They were not dreaming this up but had been told by the Minister for Education. However, this project has yet again been thwarted.

I will give the Minister of State a potted history of the project. Back in 2011, at a time of great difficulty for this country, I worked with the then Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, to have this project sanctioned. The Labour Minister sanctioned it in 2011. Some 12 years on and five Ministers for Education later, the school has been told that the project will again be long-fingered, along with many other important projects around the country. To say that the principal, board and parents of the school are incandescent with rage is not an understatement. I am absolutely infuriated as well. This is a project on which I worked closely with successive Ministers. I am particularly determined to see it over the line because the school is operating in what I can only describe as Dickensian circumstances. That is it, plain and simple. There are 208 students, now accommodated on two sites across the road from one another. The junior element of the school occupies a very old building dating back to 1812 that is simply not fit for purpose. Nobody could ever pretend that it is. On the other side of the road, third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-class students are accommodated in part of a converted warehouse previously owned by a furniture company. The warehouse accommodation works better for the school and the unused portion could, in the interim, accommodate the rest of the school. The principal would favour moving the junior element of the school over to what is left of the warehouse to accompany the other students. The school board is meeting this afternoon to discuss that very issue.

The principal told us today that she is sick of it and that a new school is not going to be built so the junior element should at least be moved into the warehouse in the meantime. She spoke about the cost of heating the prefabs and said that at least in the warehouse the children do not have to wear their coats in the classroom. To receive the kind of information the principal received this week in the middle of a very difficult cold snap has added to the school's frustrations. The principal, the school staff, parents and the entire school community are at the end of their tether. The school also accommodates four special classes for children with autism. Nobody could say that the conditions they are in are satisfactory. It is not appropriate to be accommodating anyone, let alone children who have autism, in a situation like this.

The builder was ready to go the week after St. Patrick's Day. The project was proceeding to construction but is now being pulled. I remind the Minister that this school was first approved in 2011 and, five or six Ministers for Education on, it is being pulled again. Will the Minister of State give me an update on when it will proceed? I know a review is taking place but it is simply not good enough given what we heard from the Minister last August about the project proceeding to construction this year.

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