Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for permitting debate on this important issue and the Minister of State for coming here to reply to it. The issue relates to the need for the Minister for Education and Science to announce immediate funding so that the go-ahead may be given to the extension at St. Mary's national school in Virginia.

The town of Virginia has dramatically increased in size over the past few years. Many of its new inhabitants have bought houses there and work in Dublin. It is bad enough for them that the M3 has not been built, but the fact that their children, and the children of families who have lived in Virginia all their lives, have no acceptable school accommodation is deplorable.

The existing school was built for approximately 190 pupils and there are 315 pupils on the roll today. There are seven teachers working in prefabs where they teach approximately 150 pupils. There is no longer a computer room or library. There is no storage for all the resources needed to fully implement what the principal accepts is a wonderful new child-friendly curriculum. The principal has no office and has to use part of an old building, while 17 female teachers are using a single toilet. The rental of prefabs for the past two years was €90,000 and at best will cost a minimum of €360,000 before a new school can be finalised.

If ever there was an example of failed consultation between the housing section in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and our education system, this is it. Surely we must not just plan for houses, but at the same time for services such as schools. It is totally unacceptable that no senior Department official has stood on the site since the application for an extension consisting of four classrooms and three ancillary rooms was made in April 2004. While I appreciate that I received a commitment from senior Department officials on Monday that every effort is being made to assess projected needs to bring us up to 2011, it is difficult to explain to parents, teachers and management why the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, has not assured more progress on such a critical issue.

The management team met the Minister in June 2005 and it is still awaiting progress. I ask the Minister of State to make sure that the assessments are finished before the end of the year so that it is included in the new year programme as an urgent and emergency need. I hope that by the end of January the Minister for Education and Science will be in a position to allow her Department to bring this to the planning stage.

I compliment the parents' association, management, principal, teachers and all the staff for the delivery of an excellent service in an extremely difficult situation. It creates difficulties for teachers and pupils, both in class and at play, but it is clearly even more difficult for children needing resource-remedial or other support teaching. It is difficult to teach normal-sized classes in such accommodation but it is impossible when five of the classes have over 30 pupils and three have over 35.

This school has a waiting list for some of its classes. Some 49% of the pupils from first to sixth class have joined after junior infants, highlighting the influx of new people to the area. Of course, they came as a result of the increased housing, which itself came as a result of planning. Situations such as this should be dealt with in advance and planning taken into account by our education system.

The people of Virginia have the proud record of providing their own secondary school in very difficult times, when the State had no money. It is unacceptable that, with the State coffers bulging to the extent the Tánaiste says there is no need for all the taxes, teachers and children should have to survive in such structures. It is difficult to explain to the farming community and small shop owners how health and safety considerations can be ignored by the Department of Education and Science when they are subject to such on-the-spot inspections under the guise of so-called EU regulations.

The Minister of State's colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, was at the meeting last night, as was Deputy Connolly. We saw at first hand the seriousness of the situation. The school does not even have computers, which is not the way young children should be taught in this day and age. I urge him to bring a message to the Minister that this is an urgent crisis.

Paudge Connolly (Cavan-Monaghan, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this item for debate. As Deputy Crawford said, we and the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, attended a meeting last night at St. Mary's school, Virginia. It was a very well-attended meeting and was very constructive. The parents' committee had briefed us exceptionally well and handled the meeting well.

Deputy Crawford, the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith and I made a promise to work as a team for the people of Virginia. I am sure other Oireachtas colleagues will join with us, so that it will not be allowed to become a political football. There was much debate about how the school had arrived at the situation in which it finds itself. A decision was made that that was historical and we had moved forward. The view of the meeting was that we should consider what is to happen in the future. There are reasons why the situation has got to where it is, such as the increase in population at a rate much more rapid than anybody had anticipated, the increase in new house building and poor planning by departments who did not interact and apply joined-up thinking. Difficulties that had arisen with the school were outlined and people were unhappy with the way the pupil-teacher ratio had been calculated. The school was regarded as having a ratio of 1:24 but in reality it is 1:29. With such a ratio the school would be entitled to an extra teacher. Not only were teachers taking classes but classroom assistants were brought in to make the picture look different. There are five classes with more than 30 pupils and three with 34 or more. Reference was made to the aeroplane seats into which the children were crammed, which is not a good teaching environment, whatever one might be teaching, as it is claustrophobic. The school was built for 190 pupils but there are now nearly twice as many.

Mention was also made of the external facilities, such as the way the portakabins took up the children's play space and the fact that the school faced a busy road. The primary schoolchildren can climb on to the wall, leading to a situation where three members of staff feel they must, for safety reasons, patrol the school yard daily, whereas in most schools one suffices.

It was also revealed that there was one toilet for 17 female staff, which presents health and safety difficulties and would not be accepted in any private industry, never mind in a public institution, which is supposed to be the upholder of such standards.

The collection and dropping off of children also causes difficulties. Approximately 90% of the children must cross the road at some time, because most live on the far side from the school. There is no school crossing, although Cavan County Council advanced many reasons why that had to be so. It was suggested that primary school students be trained to teach the younger children how to cross roads. That is fine if a lollipop man or woman is there to supervise the training programme, but that is not the case and the issue needs to be addressed.

One of the big issues to arise during the night was the assessment process. It was generally known by all present that the Minister had sent an official to examine the case in May 2005. How much time does it take to assess a problem as obvious as children having to attend a cramped school which cannot accommodate its students? Everyone knows that Virginia is a growing commuter town of Dublin. A better road structure will be delivered in the near future and the school has a fair argument.

I wish I could share the optimism of the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, who said the assessment would be finished by late January or early February, when he appeared to expect positive news. I hope the Minister of State can add to that this evening.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank both Deputies for raising these matters as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and, in particular, to outline the position regarding the proposed building project for St. Mary's national school in Virginia and the situation relating to its staffing levels. It is good to see two Deputies from the same constituency working together as a team. I wish them well in their efforts.

Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools, as well as responding to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth, is a major priority for the Government. Since taking office, this Government has shown focused determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.

As evidence of this commitment, approximately 1,300 building and modernisation projects are active in our primary and post-primary schools during 2006. This year alone some €500 million is being spent on primary and post-primary projects throughout the country, compared to approx €90 million in 1997. Indeed, funding has progressively been increased in recent years with an aggregate total of over €2 billion between 2000 and 2005 and a commitment to invest a further €3.9 billion up to 2010.

I am sure the Deputies will agree that this record level of investment is a positive testament to the high priority the Government attaches to ensuring that school accommodation is of the highest standard possible. On top of this, to reduce red tape and allow projects to move faster, responsibility for smaller projects has been devolved to school level. Standard designs have also been developed for 8- and 16-classroom schools to facilitate speedier delivery of projects and to save on design fees. The design and build method is also used to expedite delivery where the use of standard designs is not possible. Taken together with the unprecedented level of funding available, these initiatives ensure that building projects are delivered within the fastest timeframe possible.

St. Mary's national school in Virginia is a co-educational primary school with a current enrolment of 309 pupils. In recent years an upward trend in enrolment at the school has necessitated a review by the Department of housing developments, demographic trends and enrolment trends in the area to ensure that any capital funding provided will deliver accommodation appropriate to the school's need into the future. On completion of this assessment, a decision will be taken by the Department and conveyed to the school on how best to provide for the school's long-term accommodation needs. A site visit will be required to inform the final brief for the project and the Department will be in contact with the school authority to arrange this at the appropriate time. Following the site visit, the brief will be completed and the project will be considered for progress in the context of the school building and modernisation programme from 2007 onwards.

I assure the House that school building projects are selected by the Department for inclusion in a capital programme on the basis of priority of need presenting, which is determined by published prioritisation criteria formulated following consultation with the education partners. The application of these criteria to capital funding submissions and the publication of the school building programme ensure that maximum openness and transparency applies to the school building and modernisation programme. Most importantly, this approach ensures that all schools applying for capital funding can know how their applications will be treated and when they are likely to progress.

The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by reference to the school's enrolment figures on 30 September of the previous year. The number of mainstream posts is determined by reference to a staffing schedule that is finalised for a particular school year following discussions with the education partners. The staffing schedule is set out in a circular that issues from the Department to all primary school boards of management. Accordingly, all boards are aware of the staffing position for their schools in any school year.

The general rule is that the schedule provides at least one classroom teacher for every 28 pupils in the school. Schools with only one or two teachers have much lower staffing ratios, with two teachers for just 12 pupils in some cases and so on. Next year, this ratio will be reduced to 27 children per classroom teacher.

On 30 September 2005, St. Mary's national school had an enrolment of 278 pupils, which warrants a staffing for the 2006-07 school year of a principal and ten mainstream teachers. The school also has the services of one permanent learning support-resource teacher and one temporary language support teacher.

Within the terms of the current staffing arrangements for primary schools, there is provision for additional posts, referred to as developing school posts, to be assigned to schools on the basis of projected enrolments for the next school year. A developing school is defined as a school where the enrolment on 30 September of one year is projected to exceed the enrolment of 30 September of the previous year by a specified minimum numerical increase and by having an excess of five pupils above the required appointment figure.

I am pleased to inform this House that one such developing school post was sanctioned by the Department at St. Mary's national school for the 2006-07 school year based on an enrolment of 309 pupils. In the circumstances, the Department is satisfied that the school's staffing levels are consistent with its needs and nationally agreed protocols. I assure both Deputies that the Department is anxious to move ahead with the school's building project and every effort will be made to finalise an accommodation brief so that the project can move to the next stage.