Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for being here in person to deal with this matter, on which I hope we will see progress. This is a long outstanding problem which in recent times has descended into a farce. The situation with regard to primary school accommodation in Portlaoise is now a fiasco. It is likely that 80 to 100 pupils will have no school place in September. The Government still has not signed contracts to allow work to commence on a site purchased by the parish, at no cost to the State, at Summerhill on the Stradbally Road in Portlaoise. This would allow the long-awaited amalgamation of three town-centre primary schools, Scoil Mhuire, Sacred Heart and St. Paul's. Coinciding with this we will see the extension of a school on the west side of the town, Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay, and there is also the long-outstanding matter of the gaelscoil. Sadly, progress has been slow and I ask the Minister to intervene. The parish has invested €2.25 million in the project whereas the Department has not spent one cent. Rather than consulting stakeholders about its future, it has tried to force the gaelscoil into a half-built building at the site of the vocational school following the site's rejection by other primary schools in the area. This is a serious development and matter. Who is in charge?

Portlaoise's primary schools are beginning to resemble a prefab shanty town. More than 80% of the students of Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay, are taught in prefabs, but the school is being denied an extension. No one in the town has been consulted by the Department's officials, for which reason we find ourselves in this chaotic situation. Who is in charge and what plan is in force? The area is developing, but some of its children will not have educational facilities next September. Supposedly, this matter has been under way for ten years, but nothing is occurring. After this debate, will the Minister visit the town and meet me and my colleagues, Deputies Moloney and Fleming? If not in the town, will he meet us here? The situation cannot be allowed to continue. The Department seems to be shuffling paper from one section to another and avoiding decision making. Meanwhile, parents, pupils and all interested parties in Portlaoise do not know what will occur in September.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and to outline the current position in respect of the Department's long-term plan for Portlaoise in general.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I seek specifics, not generalities.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Funding to address the capital investment requirements of approximately 3,200 primary and 730 post-primary schools is ongoing. The Government has dramatically increased investment in the school building programme from just over €90 million in 1997 to €586.2 million this year. During the lifetime of the national development plan, almost €4.5 billion will be invested in schools, an unprecedented level of capital investment that reflects the Government's commitment to continue its programme of sustained investment in primary and post-primary schools.

As the Deputy is aware, a developing areas unit was set up recently in my Department to focus on the school accommodation needs of rapidly developing areas. The main emphasis in 2008 is on providing sufficient school places in developing areas, as well as delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary school accommodation throughout the country.

Regarding Portlaoise generally, the developing areas unit has identified the town as an area of rapid development. In this regard, a decision has already been taken to provide three new post-primary schools and to amalgamate and expand primary provision to meet the area's growing needs. Educational provision at post-primary level needed to be addressed first and a new VEC school building has already been delivered. Two other post-primary school building projects are due to go on site this year and are being delivered by way of public private partnership. Each will cater for 850 pupils.

Now that the accommodation requirements of the town at post-primary level are well on their way to being addressed, it is proposed to deal with the primary school requirements. Approval in principle has been given for three large-scale primary building projects in Portlaoise, which will improve conditions for the schools concerned and provide much needed extra school places. Two new greenfield site schools will be built to facilitate the amalgamation of Scoil Náisúnta an Chroí Naofa, St. Paul's primary school and Scoil Náisúnta Mhuire. The new facilities will be configured as a junior and senior school and will cater for 1,600 pupils. The school authorities were given approval to appoint design teams and my Department is currently considering the nominees for ratification.

The third project is the extension of Scoil Bhríde, Knockmay, to create a 32-classroom school catering for 800 pupils. The school authorities were given approval to appoint design teams and my Department is also currently considering the nominees for this project for ratification. Progress on these proposed works will be considered on an ongoing basis in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme

Due to the level of demand for pupil places in the Portlaoise area, the need to make further provision at primary level in addition to that outlined is being kept under continuous review by my Department. I am confident the measures outlined will assist in alleviating the immediate demand for pupil places in the area and I thank the Deputy for allowing me the opportunity to outline my Department's position on school provision in the Portlaoise area.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Parents in Kilfinane, County Limerick will withdraw their children from school on Friday. They took this decision out of despair at the Government's failure to keep its promise. They are entitled to be told why the construction of their school has not been given the go ahead for this summer. No one has been able to explain why. Is it because they do not have enough political clout? The Minister stated that €586.2 million will be spent on schools this year, but not a penny will be spent on Kilfinane. There is no transparency about how the decision was made to build other schools, but not this one.

Kilfinane national school is at the bottom of the INTO's list of substandard schools, which Mr. John Carr, INTO general secretary, stated on radio this morning. It has been given numerous promises, has planning permission, has gone to tender and is the generic model for schools of its size, but the plug has been pulled. My colleague, Mr. James Heffernan, who lives in Kilfinane and is a past pupil of the school, tells me that people cannot believe they are being bypassed, given the school's condition. The children must queue in the yard to go to the toilet. The reason for the queue, shown on the front of yesterday's Irish Examiner, is that the teachers cannot let them go to the toilet when they need to because the teachers cannot, for health and safety reasons, let them out alone to cross the yard. Nor can they leave the rest of the class alone. Hail, rain or snow, young children must go to the toilet on cue using an outdoor toilet.

We need answers. While the Minister is new to the job, this is the Government's responsibility. If the contract is not signed by the end of June, the tendering process will have to start again. It will inevitably cost more. The children will have more than one more winter of queuing in all weather. They need a date when construction can start. Of all the billions of euro in the State's capital budget, surely two and a half million can be found so that children will not have to queue in the rain. Given this year's spend of €586.2 million, why can €2.5 million not be found for the worst national school in the country? I urge the Minister to find the money for Kilfinane national school.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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I take this opportunity to support the call for a new school at Kilfinane. In 2002, the school was promised for the following year. It was also promised before the last election, after which there was an expectation that the contracts would be signed. However, word came through last November that the school would not be built. Angry citizens, a broad representation of the people, not just teachers and parents of school children, attended a public meeting in Kilfinane. I understand the Minister visited the area last week to announce that the school would not be built this year.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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That is not correct.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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I was not present, but I was informed of the announcement in several telephone calls. There is an urgent need for a new national school in Kilfinane. Various promises were made since 2001 and there is deep concern that the school was not included in the most recent announcement on schools building projects last January. It was indicated to us at Easter but that did not happen either. The Department of Education and Science commissioned a feasibility study for this school as far back as 1999 and recommended that a new school be built on a greenfield site. The project has advanced to tender and construction stage and planning permission was granted in 2007. The existing school still has an outside toilet which has always been a significant cause of concern to parents, guardians and school staff. The board of management and staff continually strive to put measures in place to ensure pupils' safety at all times. It is becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee that safety, particularly in the wake of a sinister event that occurred during the summer regarding the children. This incident highlighted the vulnerability of pupils when they leave the school buildings to use toilets and has struck fear in the hearts of parents, guardians and staff. Nothing will allay this fear other than the construction of a new school.

The present building was constructed as a church in the 19th century and remodelled as a school in 1887. The last major refurbishment was undertaken in 1909. The classrooms are cramped, with three measuring only 35 m2 and there is no room for sinks. The learning support and resource teacher and the secretary work in cubicles partitioned off the classrooms which is totally unacceptable. There is no indoor physical education facility and the high windowsills reduce visibility for teachers and pupils. There are continuous ventilation and heating problems despite the remedial works to address this. The glass and timber partitions between classrooms lead to significant noise interference.

I urge the Minister to immediately sign the contract to have this school constructed.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank both Deputies for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the position with regard to the proposed building project for Kilfinane — I had understood the name to be pronounced as spelled though others call it "Kilfennan"——

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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It is pronounced "Kilfennan". The Minister should not listen to RTE.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Kilfinane national school in County Limerick has a current enrolment of 126 pupils. It has a staffing of a principal, four mainstream assistants, one permanent resource teacher and one permanent learning support teacher, the latter post shared with another school.

Originally, the school board of management applied for capital funding to the Department for an extension project. A feasibility study was commissioned to examine the merits of upgrading and extending the existing building as opposed to the provision of a new school on a greenfield site. The Department took a decision in favour of the greenfield option on the basis of the outcome of this study and for reasons of cost effectiveness. A site was identified, inspected and found to be generally suitable for the construction of a new school. This has been purchased by the diocese.

It is intended to provide long-term accommodation in the new building for a principal, five mainstream assistants and the full range of ancillary accommodation appropriate to a school of this size. The project was included among those announced by my predecessor on 29 November 2006 to proceed to tender-construction stage. Tenders have been received and the project is now awaiting approval to proceed to construction.

I share fully the concerns of the school community in Kilfinane about their school building, particularly in the matter of the outdoor toilets. The Deputies will be aware that I visited the school recently at the request of my colleague, Deputy John Cregan, and I spoke directly to the pupils, teachers and parents. I assured them that this situation must be remedied as soon as resources are available.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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The Minister must make them available.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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However, the Deputies will appreciate that I am not — and I indicated this when I visited the school — in a position to give the go-ahead for any more projects to proceed to construction at this time, including that for Kilfinane. I do not want to mislead this school or indeed any other school in the same situation by making any suggestions to the contrary.

I indicated quite clearly to the community that I am currently reviewing with my officials the Department's spending plans for this year, that I am in the middle of this process, that it will not be complete for some time and that I will not be making any decision on any further capital expenditure until that process is completed.

Under the last national development plan, more than 7,800 building projects were delivered to provide new and modernised educational infrastructure but the reality is that not all needs can be met together. They must be met incrementally and in order of priority.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Surely outside toilets are a priority.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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This is why my Department consulted the education partners with regard to prioritisation criteria for the allocation of large scale capital funding and why these criteria are published. They are clear and unambiguous and they bring an openness and transparency as to how projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme. Not alone has their introduction improved the management of the building progamme but they also ensure a clear-cut selection process and an orderly advancement, over time, of all school building projects, with the most urgent need being addressed first. They are subject at all times, however, as is the project for Kilfinane, or any other project, to the availability of funding.

I will continue my review and I assure both Deputies, as I assured Deputy Cregan, that I am quite concerned that we progress this matter as soon as possible but I will not be making any decision on this progress until such time as I have completed the review. I have asked the parents——

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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We heard all that four years ago.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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——the teachers and everybody involved to give me an opportunity to carry out that review to ensure that I do not make any promises that I cannot fulfill and for which the proper funding is not in place to ensure that the project can be completed. As soon as my review is finished, Kilfinane will certainly continue to be a priority for me.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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I cannot understand why outside toilets are not a top priority.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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They are a priority but I cannot and will not spend money when I am not aware of what I have. I gave that commitment to the parents of Kilfinane. I ask the Deputies to allow me the opportunity to go through my envelope for 2008 and if I can accommodate Kilfinane at the end of that review I will certainly do it and it remains a priority for me.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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I thank the Minister.