David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter. I also thank the Minister of State for being here.

I had a bit of déjà vu recently when I visited the old technical school in Fermoy, which was built in 1931. I am sure the Minister of State knows about it as she has never been too far away from it. I started teaching there about 46 years ago when I was very young. The basement of the old school is now home to Fermoy Educate Together National School in Fermoy and I visited the place recently on an invitation. I was struck by the vibrancy, the professionalism and dedication of the staff and the atmosphere within the school. You can pick that up from actually going into a school. It is inclusive, fun and an excellent educational experience for all of the children, but there is a problem. It is extremely cramped. There are three classrooms which fall below the required size, which I am told is 18 sq. m. One of these is 25 sq. m. There are cramped classrooms for students and staff.

Fermoy was one of the areas surveyed in 2012 and 2013 under the patronage divesting process and there was sufficient parental demand to support change in school patronage. Since then, the school has grown in popularity among families in the town, with 87 children, I am told, now enrolled in the school and 96 being expected in September. Everyone was delighted when the school opened its doors in 2018 but it now needs attention. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Foley, about it on a few occasions and I have asked her to visit the school, and I know some people from the Department have also been there.

The Educate Together school is in the basement and the ETB has rooms upstairs, which it needs and is making use of. There might be room to put in extra classrooms downstairs in the short term. The school got permission to have an autism class, but it is not suitable at all for that. I am sure the Minister of State realises that when dealing with autistic children, they need space and quiet. They have a little quiet space there but, really and truly, it needs attention. What is really needed in the long term for this school in Fermoy is a new building. It is very popular and is very much liked by the students and teachers, but they are literally on top of each other and it is in the basement. You can imagine how cramped and unsuitable the building is, but also how popular it is. The parents of Fermoy want this school and they want it to be progressed.

The Department has done marvellous work in other areas in building and expanding schools and putting in provision, but this is probably one of the poorest I have seen in a long time. I know there is a divesting programme and I know the Minister of State will tell me there was an agreement that the school should cap its size and all that stuff. I have seen all of the material and have been on this issue for a while. The reason I am raising it again this evening is to draw attention to it and to ask that the Department rolls up its sleeves, has a look at this and makes a commitment to improve matters for the students, the teachers, the staff, the parents and the community of Fermoy. They need that at the very least.

There are other issues here which I wish to draw to the attention of the Minister of State. You can imagine that, in a cramped condition like that, there are safety issues involved. There are fire safety and other issues which I believe we should be concerned about. It is not just the education of the children, and nowadays many primary schools have plenty of space, light and air, proper toilet facilities, and so on. That is not the case here. It really needs attention. The parents are screaming out for that. They are very reasonable but at this stage the school is so popular and we are going to see more and more children wanting to join the school but cannot because it is too cramped and too small. I await the Minister of State's response.

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