James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to speak on this important matter, namely, the need for the Minister for Education and Science to provide an update on the commencement date for building the new school building for Forgney national school, County Longford, which is urgently required to replace the school's 40 year old wooden structure. The new school building was approved two years ago, in November 2006, in an announcement by the then Minister for Education and Science of a new building programme under which 72 primary schools nationwide were allocated funding.

Forgney national school has gone from the heights of elation to the depths of despair in the past two years. There was elation in November 2006, almost two years ago, with the announcement that after a 40-year wait the school was given the go-ahead by the Department for a new school building. However, as time passed with no follow through, this has turned to despair. The Minister might be unable to imagine such despair but I can assure him it is extreme. It is the culmination of raised hopes that have been dashed and the reality of hard work by pupils, teachers and parents coming to nothing.

Forgney national school has been accommodated for an unbelievable 42 years in an old wooden, flat-roofed army-type building which is very near collapse. It is well past its sell-by date. This is a huge health and safety risk for children and teachers. As I asked recently in this House when speaking about the conditions in another school, would the Minister and his Government colleagues be happy to work in accommodation that has deteriorated to such an extent? I am sure they would not and that the Office of Public Works would be called in immediately to upgrade facilities. Government spin, particularly with regard to school building projects, is also well past its sell-by date. Communities with schools such as that in Forgney are sick and tired of having the wool pulled over their eyes and promise after promise without action.

Forgney national school is a small two-teacher school at the heart of the community in Forgney, County Longford. Although the postal address is County Westmeath, this is a Longford school which is under the capable direction of its principal, Mr. Adrian Coughlan. If anything should happen to the temporary structure, the school would be forced to copy the hedge schools of old as no other accommodation is available in the area. The pupils would be at the mercy of the elements. Forgney is a developing catchment area on the outskirts of Ballymahon. The school is the only primary school in the parish and as such it is a focal point of parish activities.

While the area has not been over-developed in recent years, it is beginning to attract some development. Although it is a small school, zoning for housing in the area will lead to an increase in the number of school-going children in coming years. A recently completed building scheme situated on the border of Forgney and Ballymahon will lead to a significant increase in the school-going population. The school has a projected enrolment of more than 30 pupils by 2010. The local people have worked tirelessly and have vigorously campaigned for a new school building to replace the difficult physical conditions in which Forgney national school has provided an excellent education for the children of the area for many years.

Currently, the principal assumes the building project has reached the design stage and it is accepted that it will not now go to tender in the first six months of 2009. I urge the Minister to give an assurance, without clouding the issue, that it will be certain to go to tender in the second half of next year.

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am responding on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline the position with regard to the application for large-scale capital funding from Forgney national school. The school has a staffing of a principal, one mainstream teacher and a shared resource teacher. The school's enrolment at 30 September 2007 was 22 pupils.

The school authority has applied to the Department of Education and Science for capital funding for a new school building. In the context of this application, the local inspector has confirmed that the school is expected to maintain its current enrolment and staffing level. It is not, therefore, experiencing the rapid increase in enrolments that has occurred in other schools throughout the country.

The Deputy will appreciate that modernising facilities in 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task given the decades of underinvestment in this area as well as the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. The Government has a sincere determination, however, to ensure that all children are educated in appropriate facilities to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum. This is evidenced by the scale of funding made available under the former and the current national development plans and the capital funding for school buildings announced in the budget this week.

The Department of Education and Science must prioritise how it spends its capital funding to ensure that it is targeted at areas and schools most in need. That is the reason prioritisation criteria were introduced and published. These criteria show how projects are categorised and how they are selected for inclusion in a capital programme. Under the criteria, the proposed project for Forgney national school has been assigned a band two rating reflecting the fact that the standard of its existing accommodation is such that it needs to be replaced by a new building.

Thousands of building projects were carried out under the last national development plan to provide new and modernised educational infrastructure and thousands more will be carried out under the new plan. However, there must be order in how this happens and a realisation that not all building projects can proceed together. The extent of the demand on the capital budget is enormous. That budget is providing accommodation for new communities together with accommodation for the unprecedented number of extra teachers the Government has put into the system. The Department of Education and Science also must modernise much of the existing stock as a result of the historic underinvestment in that stock.

All this work will not be achieved overnight. However, the Department has made huge inroads and will continue to build on the success of the last national development plan, when the Department delivered 7,800 building projects. As the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, said, this must be done in an orderly and planned manner and on the basis of the most pressing need. Projects will be advanced incrementally through the system, over time, consistent with the priority attaching to them which is reflected in the band rating assigned to them. Individual projects will be allowed to proceed, in order of priority as and when the funding situation permits. The school building project for Forgney national school will be considered for progression in this context.

I again thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Department's planning and building unit will be in contact with the school authority as further progress is made on its project.