Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The next item is the provision of additional accommodation at Bishop Ahern national school, Leamlara, County Cork. I hope my Cork pronunciation is okay.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Acting Chairman's pronunciation is excellent as always. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter. While I have great respect for the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, I am disappointed that one of the many Ministers of State at the Department of Education and Science could not be present. I am sure Deputy Kitt will do an adequate job of reading out a reply.

I speak on behalf of the people in the community around Leamlara national school. It is a small community in east Cork that had a public meeting this week. Oireachtas Members were invited to attend and I gave a commitment to bring this matter to the attention of the Minister. The school has an urgent accommodation need. It is a close-knit, model community but there is a problem with the school. There are six permanent teachers, four mainstream and two full-time, but there are only three mainstream classrooms. They must use a general purpose room, which was used for physical education but that can no longer be taught in the entire school. This is contrary to the Department of Education and Science curriculum guidelines. There are no toilets in that room and children must go unsupervised down a corridor to go to the toilet. This is contrary to the board of management safety policy. There is no water in the general purpose room.

The frightening aspect is the amount of building in the area in the past few years. Just behind the school, a new housing estate was built. The number of children appearing in the estate has increased by quite an amount. The current enrolment in junior infants is 11 this year but in a few years' time it will be 25 and is due to grow further. Already the school is under ferocious pressure. The school has said that its accommodation needs are current, urgent and merit a significantly higher band rating than 2.4. I cannot understand why it is rated as 2.4 but the Minister of State might tell me. Significant goodwill exists locally and the community is willing to provide voluntary skilled labour to build the school if the Department will supply the material. The school wants a meeting with the Department officials to see what can be worked out.

The school representatives are willing to meet the Department more than halfway in order to provide accommodation for the children. One parent told me that her child looks out the window every day to see if it is fine. This is the only way they can go out to play or have physical education because the physical education room is gone. This situation is replicated all over the country but I am here on behalf of these children, parents and this community. I am anxious that the Minister of State relays this request to the Department of Education and Science and arranges a meeting between officials and the local community and the board of management to see what can be done urgently.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the House the current position regarding the proposed building project for Bishop Ahern national school, Leamlara, County Cork. All applications for capital funding are assessed in the modernisation and policy unit of the Department of Education and Science. The assessment process determines the extent and type of need presenting based on the demographics of an area, proposed housing developments, condition of buildings and site capacity etc. leading ultimately to an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners.

Projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project. In other words, a proposed building project moves through the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it. There are four band ratings overall, of which band 1 is the highest and band 4 the lowest. Band 1 projects, for example, include the provision of buildings where none currently exist but there is a high demand for school places, while a band 4 project makes provision for desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities. Each band rating has a number of sub-categories which more specifically describes the type of works needed and the urgency attaching to them.

Bishop Ahern national school is a fully vertical co-educational primary school with a current enrolment of 84 pupils. The staffing level is a principal, three mainstream assistants and two learning support teachers. The school authority has applied to the Department of Education and Science for large-scale capital funding for an extension project.

Consistent with the approach outlined by the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, the application was assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects and it has been assigned a band 2.4 rating. This reflects the fact that, while there is a deficit of accommodation, this does not represent a substantial or significant proportion of the school's overall accommodation needs. It also reflects the fact that moderate refurbishment is needed. The next step for the project is the appointment of a design team.

Due to the scale of the demand on the Department of Education and Science's capital budget, it is not possible to provide an indicative timeframe for the progression of the project at this time. Earlier this year, the school applied for the provision of temporary accommodation for a mainstream teacher and a resource teacher. Due to the level of demand on the budget for temporary accommodation, it is not possible to approve all applications received and only those with no scope whatsoever to accommodate extra teaching resources can be approved.

In the case of Bishop Ahern national school, it has a 92 sq. m general purpose room. With a teaching staff of four teachers and an enrolment of 85 pupils, a pupil-teacher ratio of 21:1 will apply. A smaller classroom than that normally provided by the Department of Education and Science would suffice. The Department holds the view that part of the general purpose room can be cordoned off for use by the extra mainstream teacher on an interim basis until the Department is in a position to make funding available for an extra classroom. The school already has a 37 sq. m prefab for its two resource teachers, which is almost the size of what is usually provided and this should be sufficient. The school has, however, appealed the Department's decision in this matter and this is currently under review.

While the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, accepts that it is far from ideal for any children to be taught in non-customised accommodation, he hopes the school authority will realise that the Department does not refuse demonstrably necessary funding applications unless it is not in a position to do otherwise and that, unfortunately, the situation with regard to its temporary accommodation application is unlikely to change this year, particularly given the availability of a short-term solution to the issue within the school itself.

The allocation for school buildings in 2009 is €581 million. This represents a significant investment in the school building and modernisation programme. This level of funding for the building programme at a time of great pressure on the public finances is a sign of the very real commitment of the Government to investing in school infrastructure. This is already firmly evidenced, however, by our achievements under the last national development plan when an aggregate total of well over €2.6 billion was invested in upgrading the existing school infrastructure and providing new school accommodation at both first level and second level.

This programme delivered over 7,800 building projects in addition to investment in site purchases, the annual minor works grant to all primary schools, the asbestos and radon remediation programmes, science and technology initiatives, emergency works and grants for the purchase of furniture and equipment. An unprecedented €4.5 billion has been allocated for educational infrastructure under the current national development plan. This will permit the continuation of the enormous progress we have made in the overall provision and improvement of school accommodation.