Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for allowing me to raise this matter. I assume the Minister is not coming into the House to deal with it. If anything symbolises the failure of this Government, it is the scandal of Kill national school. After ten years of this incompetent Government and four Fianna Fáil Ministers for Education and Science, no progress has been achieved.

Kill national school is still situated virtually on a traffic island in the middle of a motorway. It is grossly overcrowded and there is a waiting list of children who cannot get a school place. Mr. Tom Cunnane, the excellent principal, is besieged by angry parents and he is taking flak which should be directed at the Minister for Education and Science. He is left carrying the can for the Government's repeated and long-standing failure to honour its undertakings to the people of Kill.

I pay tribute to Mr. Cunnane and his staff for doing an excellent job for the children of Kill despite the difficulties they face, which the Minister has failed to remove. I know the Minister was acutely aware of the situation in Kill during the by-election in Kildare North and in case she has been distracted by other matters, I will refresh her memory. The school was built in 1951 and caters for a population of 4,000. It consists of the old building and numerous — at least ten — prefab classrooms. It has no PE room, no staff room and very little usable playground. In 2000, the Minister decided that a new school was to be built in the town. Since then nothing has been done by the Minister to achieve that objective.

Through the efforts of the principal, a local landowner and Kildare County Council, an agreement has now been reached on acquiring a site for a new school. The site will be legally transferred to the Department of Education and Science very shortly. On 1 March 2006, I raised this matter on the Adjournment and the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, responded with a solemn undertaking to build the school ten months after acquiring the site. She also said she would use the interim to establish the size of the school required and said, in September 2006, that a 32-class new school had been agreed.

She has again reneged on her undertakings. Her Department's website is now advertising for the new school and the following is taken from the expressions of interest notice:

The project will entail the construction of a new primary school comprising between 24 and 32 classrooms plus associated ancillary accommodation and site works. The new build accommodation will total somewhere between 3,600 sq. m. and 4,550 sq. m. The definite scope of the project, i.e. the number of classrooms to be provided, will be decided by the client, namely the Minister, shortly. Candidates should be aware that this accommodation is required by September 2009.

I was thunderstruck when I read that notice and could not believe that the Minister would mislead the House and the parents and teachers of Kill in such a barefaced manner. Not only has she not decided on the size of the school, contradicting what she told the Dáil on 1 March 2006, she has now abandoned the ten-month building period and has pushed the project into 2009 or beyond.

The Minister needs to explain herself to the House. I call on her to stand by her early undertakings and her promises to Kill school and its people. She must instruct her officials to act accordingly as nothing less will be acceptable. Kill wants its school ten months after it gets the site, as she promised.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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On behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, I will update the House on the proposed new primary school for Scoil Bhride in Kill, County Kildare.

Last November, the Department announced details of 72 primary schools and eight post-primary schools that were given the go-ahead to proceed with major works such as new school building projects, extensions or refurbishments. The proposed new primary school in Kill was one of those listed. The first key step in the project is to appoint an architectural design team which will design and plan the works. To that end, an advertisement seeking design team consultants for Kill was placed on the public procurement portal on Monday, 26 March 2007, with the closing date for the receipt of expressions of interests being Friday, 27 April.

After these pre-qualification applications have been assessed by the school building section, further instructions will issue to all of the shortlisted candidates seeking further submissions so that phase two of the appointment process, the award stage, can commence. I have been advised that the design team should be formally appointed in July.

Officials from the school planning and building section of the Department have been in regular contact with representatives of the school authority since the November announcement and met with them again recently to discuss their interim accommodation needs. This consultative approach is working well and the Department is satisfied that the co-operative approach of the school authority will ensure that all eligible pupils have access to a place next September.

The Deputy makes reference to a Dáil Adjournment Debate of 1 March 2006. Initially, this project was identified as a possible generic repeat design, GRD, school and it is true that this build method can be delivered in a shorter timeframe than would be the case otherwise. However, subsequent technical evaluations indicated that such a build type is not possible on this site. An early construction start date in 2008, with an expected occupation date in 2009, is the new timeline to which the Department and the school authority will be working. The Department will use whatever construction method is feasible that will allow us to deliver this school on this site in the shortest possible time.

Regarding the matter of the site acquisition, the Office of Public Works, which acts on behalf of the Department generally on the acquisition of sites for schools, has identified a suitable site for St. Brigid's national school in Kill. Agreement on the site acquisition has been reached, subject to contract. While draft contracts have been exchanged, I am advised that the conveyancing process continues to be delayed pending the outcome of a planning application by the vendor.

I assure Deputy Stagg that the Department of Education and Science is fully committed to providing suitable facilities for Kill national school at the earliest possible date.