Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for accepting this matter for discussion. I also thank the Minister for coming in to take the debate. I appreciate that.

Kill national school, on the edge of the Naas dual carriageway, was built in 1951 to serve the primary education needs of the picturesque village of Kill and its rural hinterland. It now consists of the old building, an extension to it and a tangle of nine prefab classrooms placed on what should be the play area for the pupils. It caters for a population of some 4,000 people. The school is now in the middle of a virtual building site, one of the largest engineering projects in the country. When that project is finished, the school will be on a traffic island on the newly constructed N7, the road with the heaviest traffic load in the country.

In 1998, the newly appointed principal, Mr. Tom Kinnane, commissioned a study of the educational needs of the area. On foot of that study, the Department agreed in 2000 that a new school was required and instructed the Office of Public Works to purchase a suitable site. Six years on, the OPW has failed to do this. It has done sweet Fanny Adams about the issue.

It is the responsibility and duty of the Minister for Education and Science to ensure the necessary resources are made available to provide schools where required — and we have plenty of resources. The Minister decided in 2000, six years ago, that a new school was required in Kill, but all she has done about it since is to visit the school during the by-election last year and promise another prefab. She has failed to dischargeher duty as far as Kill and its children are concerned.

There are now nine prefabs at the school and one more is needed for this year's intake. That will be the last prefab as no more will fit; there is no room left in the yard for any more. There are 432 pupils in the school and this number will rise to 465 in September 2006 if the prefab is provided.

As a result of the Minister's failure to provide a new school and the continued zoning of land for houses by Fianna Fáil councillors, I have sought a moratorium on further house building in the area until a new school is provided. This request has been rejected and zoning and planning permissions are granted with gay abandon, with no regard for the needs of the children in the area. There is a basic need for a properly designed and built national school in a suitable location. Kill has not got this.

The board of management and the school principal, Mr. Tom Kinnane, have succeeded in the most difficult circumstances in providing first-class education for the children of Kill. However, they have now reached a crisis that even they cannot solve. Simply, there are more children seeking places in Kill national school than can be accommodated. In September of this year, 23 children, some of whom have had places booked in the school since they were born, will be turned away because there is no room. If the requested prefab is not provided, that figure will be over 50 children. Where will these children go in September? In September 2007, at least 47 children will be turned away. There is no room either in the adjoining towns and villages as they are full to the gills.

Tom Kinnane, who has worked miracles since his appointment to Kill, cannot solve the problem presented to him. There are more pupils than the school can accommodate. This will mean that some children will be close to six years of age before they can get a place. Even that is not guaranteed. This is a scandal and disgrace that the Minister has failed to tackle or resolve. Kill needs as a basic requirement a new 24-classroom school with all supporting facilities. This requires a new site. There is no scarcity of land in the vicinity of the village and all the Department needs to do is go out and buy it.

I demand on behalf of the children of Kill, their parents and teachers that this matter be dealt with as a matter of urgency. The Minister must deal with the acute accommodation crisis at Kill national school. Given that the Minister has come in to reply, I hope she has good news for Kill.

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank Deputy Stagg for raising this matter. One of the reasons I am replying is because I have visited Kill national school and I am conscious of the excellent quality education being provided and the leadership given by the principal and staff in a school building that is anything but quality accommodation. I am concerned by the fact that the school faces not just demographic pressure but also pressure from the roadworks. Anybody travelling along the route can see the school. I am conscious of the conditions under which the school operates.

I am anxious that Kill national school should be one of the 1,300 schools to benefit from the schools building projects fund of approximately €500 million. The rate of growth in the school has been enormous over the past few years. Currently the school has 426 pupils, a principal, 15 mainstream assistants and four special needs teachers. It has grown in the past six years by 94 pupils, from 332 in 2000-2001 to 426. In that short time the rate of increase has amounted to three class groups.

When the school applied initially to the Department for an extension, it was on the basis of a 16-classroom school. The school has a priority one rating, the highest priority that can be given. Obviously, we are committed to seeing that this school and schools like it in rapidly developing areas are prioritised and make progress more quickly than other schools. When the Department decided initially on a 16-classroom school, the technical assessment of the site deemed it unsuitable to provide the level of extra accommodation needed to match the requirement.

The property management section of the OPW acts on behalf of the Department of Education and Science with regard to site acquisitions. It was asked to acquire a suitable site for the school. I understand a number of sites have been identified and the OPW is awaiting a recommendation from the valuer on the options. As soon as the preferred site is identified, it will be acquired in the shortest timeframe possible. I am waiting for the valuer to come back to me through the OPW.

In recent years we have used very innovative methods of delivering school buildings. With the use of generic design and design build, we have actually built schools in ten months. One example of this is the Archbishop Ryan school in Lucan. As soon as we get the site, I will be determining that we should use the fastest possible method of building the school.

In light of the recent demands on the school for enrolment, we now do not believe that a 16-classroom school will be big enough, particularly when one looks at the long-term enrolment needs of the area. Deputy Stagg seems to agree. We have to undertake an immediate review of the long-term enrolment needs of the school to ensure that the additional accommodation provided will be sufficient to meet the expected demand for pupil places in the foreseeable future. We will look at all relevant factors including enrolment, demographic trends, the rate and pace of proposed housing developments in the area, along with the projected occupancy rates. This review is being carried out as a matter of urgency and the outcome will be discussed with the school authority as soon as it comes to hand.

With regard to the immediate needs in Kill national school, as outlined by the Deputy, we have an application for temporary accommodation on hand to facilitate enrolment for September 2006. I am concerned that what the school has applied for will not be sufficient to meet the demands on it for September. I have asked the school planning section to meet the school immediately to make sure that we can expedite the matter and ensure that the accommodation needed can be made available, bearing in mind that there are site restrictions.

As soon as the Office of Public Works finds a site, as been instructed, we will purchase it and build the school as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we need to identify how big that school is going to be and that work is being done as a matter of priority. We also need to determine the temporary accommodation needed, which will be signed off with the school as quickly as possible.

I am acutely conscious of this particular school and I commend the principal, Mr. Kinnane, and his staff for the genuinely quality education they are providing in those circumstances.

Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Minister for her reply and will be happy to monitor progress on the matter with her.