Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me the opportunity to raise this matter. I will provide some background information on the application for funding a new school. St. Colman's boys national school has 135 pupils, 14 teachers, 12 special needs assistants, a secretary with an office in the corridor of the school, a caretaker, a part-time foreign language teacher assisting non-national students with the English language and a music teacher.

The school is currently located on the side of a national primary road, the N22, which in itself poses a traffic hazard and a major concern for parents and teachers over pupil safety. There are five prefabricated classrooms, as well as an autism unit catering for 13 pupils in three separate classroom environments. A unit in the school caters for three pupils with Down's syndrome.

I visited the school recently and, notwithstanding the cramped and almost Third World conditions under which the school is operating, it is a credit to the staff, teachers and parents in that it is an excellent school delivering excellent results for pupils. In particular there is the more recent development of the autism unit and the unit for children with mild disabilities, which is achieving tremendous results in the most appalling circumstances one can imagine.

We feel somewhat aggrieved in the constituency of Cork North-West by Government failure. In Macroom there was the closure of the GSI plant and the Molex plant in Millstreet has also closed. The closure of Delta Homes has contributed to employment loss in the area and there has also been a failure to deliver a bypass for Macroom or Charleville. Decentralisation of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was also promised. We desperately need some indication that this Government will honour its commitments.

There is a background to the case for a new school for St. Colman's. In April 1997 the board of management applied to the Department of Education and Science to extend accommodation facilities at the school and in February 1999 a design team was appointed. In September 2000 a new school site of 2.25 acres was offered to the board of management of the school by a developer in exchange for the existing school site. In November 2001 the developer also offered to construct a temporary school on-site, trusting the Department would have a new school in place for the 2003 to 2004 school year. In January 2002 the Department's procrastination resulted in the developer withdrawing the offer to provide a temporary school and in July 2005 permission was granted by Macroom Town Council for a new development which was to include a new national school. In September 2005 the tendering process was completed and a letter of intent issued to Western Building Systems, the contractor appointed at the time. In July 2007, the developer commenced his work on the preparation of the site.

I urge the Minister of State to depart from his prepared script because I know the Department is dancing on a pinhead with regard to quantity surveyor reports and recent cost increases. A letter of intent issued to Western Building Systems in 2005 and they are now looking for accommodation for inflation in construction costs because it has not gone ahead since 2005. I appeal to the Minister of State to act immediately on the consultant architect's report on the revised sums demanded by Western Building Systems on the grounds of inflationary costs accruing since the letter of intent issued on 15 December 2005.

It is an open and shut case which has gone on for ten years since 1997. The pupils deserve better as the teaching conditions are appalling, to say the least. There is great unity of purpose evident among the board of management, staff and parents but they desperately want a signal of commitment from the Government. If they get such a signal, they could be in a new school by September of next year.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity of outlining to this House the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding the provision of new school premises for St. Colman's boys national school in County Cork. It is proposed to provide a design and build turnkey package to comprise a permanent system-built, two-storey school with ten classrooms, a double autistic unit, specialist resource rooms and ancillary accommodation. A revised report with updated costings on the project has been received in the Department and is under examination.

Under the national development plan €4.5 billion is assigned to the capital requirements of the primary and post-primary sectors. More than €540 million will be spent this year on school buildings. The level of construction alone in the primary and post-primary sectors in 2007 is such that it will deliver more than 700 classrooms to provide permanent accommodation for approximately 17,500 pupils.

The progression of all large-scale building projects from initial design stage through to construction phase is considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme. The progression of this school project, as with all large-scale projects, will be considered in this context. The Minister intends to announce in January the first tranche of projects that will be proceeding to construction in 2008, with further announcements throughout the year as the school building programme is rolled out.

I assure the Deputy that the Department is committed to providing suitable high-quality accommodation for a national school in County Cork at the earliest possible date.