Dáil debates

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Adjournment Debate

Schools Building Projects.

10:00 pm

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me and Deputy Noel J. Coonan the opportunity to raise this matter. Scoil náisiúnta Cronain Naofa is located in County Offaly but serves children from its hinterland of south Offaly and north Tipperary. It is one of a number of schools on which substantial amounts of money have been spent to get them through the complicated stages of the schools building programme. Having successfully navigated that, the school was, needless to say, expecting to proceed to building its extension. However, that has not happened. This school has spent €148,269 so far on fees to get through the process and is one of 14 or 15, including the Convent of Mercy national school in Borris-in-Ossory, County Laois, that has not been given permission by the Minister to proceed.

I believe the Minister is to make an announcement in the first quarter of 2009, if not earlier, on which schools are to be allowed to proceed under this programme, and I believe strongly that the schools in Dromakeenan and Borris-in-Ossory need to be included. The school in Dromakeenan has 249 students. It has a special autism unit that is currently operating from a prefab. It has two thirds of the space it is supposed to have. The Minister himself, in his portfolio and in view of his previous positions, will be well aware of the importance in the primary school curriculum of having adequate space. The school in Dromakeenan does not have the space needed to implement the curriculum. Similarly, if the Department wants autism units around the country — which has clearly been its preference, as it is not prepared to sanction the ABA model — schools that are willing to set up these units which are extremely important, need to be given the proper facilities, as the children need those facilities. That is not the case in Dromakeenan. It is a great school but it is hampered by its inability to develop. Those at the school have done fantastic work in terms of car parking and so on.

The Minister will be making decisions over the coming weeks about what projects will proceed. To spend the amount of money that has been spent on this project to date and not allow it to proceed would be almost criminal. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, and particularly the Minister, Deputy O'Keeffe, to give proper consideration to this in view of the amount that has been spent and to give the school permission to proceed to build, which it is ready to do.

Photo of Noel CoonanNoel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue along with my colleague, Deputy Enright. This is an important matter for people in the Dromakeenan area, which is just outside the borders of north Tipperary, on the outskirts of Roscrea. Many parents and children in the area have major concerns, particularly about the safety issues to which Deputy Enright has alluded. Two of the classrooms are less than half the size they should be. The three children in the autism unit — into which two more children are anxious to enter — are in temporary accommodation. The fact that a learning support teacher must work from a kitchenette is unfair to the pupils and the teachers. The management must be complimented on the fact that it has everything in situ. It is ready to roll. It has gone through all stages with the Department — with the exception of the most important stage, which is sanction to build — and the contractor is on site.

We are conscious in rural Ireland that the Minister of State, as a Dublin Deputy, may exert more influence than perhaps even the Taoiseach himself, who comes from a rural area. The Government's emphasis is on providing accommodation for people within the greater Dublin area and the commuter belt. However, our children in rural Ireland deserve fair play too. We are not going to stand here and allow them to be neglected. The people of north Tipperary and south Offaly deserve their share of the resources, and Dromakeenan national school certainly deserves it.

Moreover, it would be an ideal opportunity, with the local elections coming, for the Taoiseach to present himself in that area to turn the sod. He would be taking in north Tipperary and south Offaly for the local elections.

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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He does not need any encouragement to do that.

Photo of Noel CoonanNoel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Perhaps at the end of the year he could be there for the official opening, just prior to the general election we anticipate.

This is a serious issue. I urge the Minister of State and his senior Minister, Deputy O'Keeffe, to sanction this proposal because it is essential for the people of the area and it is an example of what we need in rural Ireland.

Photo of Seán HaugheySeán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the 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 scoil náisiúnta Cronain Naofa, Dromakeenan, County Offaly.

Scoil náisiúnta Cronáin Naofa is a fully vertical co-educational facility. This means it caters for boys and girls from junior infants to sixth class inclusive. The enrolment as at 30 September 2008 was 249 pupils. The school has a current staffing of a principal, nine mainstream assistants, three learning support teachers and one special class teacher.

The school has applied to the Department of Education and Science for large-scale capital funding for an extension and refurbishment project. In common with all applications for large-scale capital funding, the application was assessed in accordance with the Department's published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. It has been assigned a band 2.4 rating under this process. A band rating reflects the type and extent of work needed at a school and the urgency attaching to it. In this case, the band 2.4 rating reflects the fact that the school has a deficit of mainstream accommodation but this deficit is not as significant as that of higher band rated projects. The school also needs a refurbishment. Overall, the Department of Education and Science intends to provide the school with suitable accommodation for a five-teacher school.

The project was on the Department's capital programme for 2007 to advance to tender and construction. Tenders were submitted late last year. Unfortunately, the funding was not available to allow the project to progress to construction at that time, and this continues to be the case. As the Minister has said in this House many times, due to the extent of the demand on the Department's capital budget, all school accommodation needs cannot be met together. They can only be met incrementally over time in a structured and orderly manner. We must be realistic in accepting that there was significant under-investment in school buildings over decades. Taken together with the current extra demands on the Department's capital budget from newly emerging communities with little or no school infrastructure, and the growing need to provide for special needs pupils, the Department must have an orderly process for allocating capital funding to ensure that the most critical needs are met first.

The Minister appreciates that boards of management and wider school communities are anxious to see their individual building projects proceed as quickly as possible. The Minister has no desire to see schools in less than suitable accommodation. However, he is also realistic about what needs to be done on a nationwide basis and is anxious to ensure that the resources of the Department are targeted at the most urgent needs first.

The Department of Education and Science's capital allocation for next year will amount to €581 million. This will allow it to continue to invest significantly in primary and post-primary school buildings throughout the country in order to provide additional school places and continue the Department's programme of modernising existing schools. Annual capital resources of this magnitude have allowed the Department of Education and Science to deliver more than 7,800 building projects under the last national development plan alone. The Minister is looking forward to building on this unprecedented level of work with the €4.5 billion allocated under the current national development plan.

I thank the Deputies again for raising this matter and assure them that the project for scoil náisiúnta Cronain Naofa will be considered for advancement under the Department's school building and modernisation programme as and when the funding becomes available and consistently with the priority attaching to it.

Photo of Noel CoonanNoel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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On a point of information, the Minister of State might tell us what a "fully vertical co-educational facility" is.

Photo of Olwyn EnrightOlwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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We know what "co-educational" is, but what does "vertical" mean?

Photo of Jack WallJack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I am sorry; we must move on.

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Like the people of Dromakeenan, the people of Buttevant are proud of where they come from. They have an equally dire need for a new school. They have been campaigning for such a school for over 11 years. When I was a member of Cork County Council, we co-ordinated with the local VEC on the rezoning of a specific parcel of land to allow the new school to be developed. That site was purchased over 12 months ago. As I understand it, a schedule of accommodation was submitted in September of this year. Nothing has come back from the Department yet. The school authorities are seeking the appointment of a design team. Such an appointment should not incur an undue cost. On behalf of the community, I want the next stage of the process to be reached.

Like their counterparts in hundreds of schools throughout the State, the pupils and teachers of the vocational school in Buttevant are having to work in dire circumstances. The building in question dates back to pre-Famine times. Its structures are not in line with what one would expect to see in a modern school. Notwithstanding the financial circumstances the State finds itself in, if it is to be progressive it needs to move this project onto the next stage. That would not involve a major outlay. All I am calling for at this stage is the progression of the project — it should not be stalled.

I will leave it at that because I have summed up my point. I have tabled parliamentary questions on this matter in the past and have raised it on the Adjournment previously. I will continue to raise this issue. I appreciate that the Minister of State will give me a pro forma reply. I appeal to the official in the Department of Education and Science who will be responsible for reading the transcript of this debate to take up this case and try to move it on to the next stage.

Photo of Seán HaugheySeán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter and giving me an opportunity to outline the current position in respect of the proposed building project at Coláiste Pobail Naomh Mhuire in Buttevant, County Cork.

All applications for capital funding are assessed in the school planning and building unit of the Department of Education and Science. The assessment process determines the extent and type of accommodation needed at each school, based on such matters as the demographics of the local area, any proposed housing developments in the locality, the condition of the school buildings, and the capacity of the proposed site. That process ultimately leads to the determination of an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of this process, each proposed project is assigned a band rating under the 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 that is assigned to them. There are four band ratings, 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 exists, but there is a high demand for pupil places. Band 4 projects are those in which facilities are desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential. Each band rating has a number of sub-categories which more specifically describe the type of works needed and the urgency attaching to them.

Coláiste Pobail Naomh Mhuire in Buttevant is the sole post-primary education provider in Buttevant. It operates under the aegis of County Cork VEC and has a current enrolment of 192 pupils. Enrolments at the school are stable. The VEC applied to the Department of Education and Science for capital funding to provide a new school building for Coláiste Pobail Naomh Mhuire on a greenfield site. The proposed new school building was to cater for a long-term projected enrolment of 325 pupils. The project reached an early stage of architectural planning in 2001. At that time, the VEC identified a site for the new school. However, acquisition of the site was not finalised for a number of reasons. In the intervening period, the Department became concerned about declining enrolments in the school. In that light, its planning and building unit conducted a review of second level education provision in the Buttevant area. This review took into account factors such as enrolment trends at the school, the impact of projected housing developments and existing post-primary school provision in the general area. On completion of this review, the Department affirmed its original decision that a new school on a greenfield site should be provided to cater for a long-term projected enrolment of 325 pupils. Approval was given to County Cork VEC to identify a suitable site to enable the provision of this building. A site has been acquired for that purpose. Consistent with the approach that the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has outlined, the application was assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects and assigned a band 2 rating. Due to the level of demand on my Department's capital budget, unfortunately, the Minister is not in a position to provide an indicative timeframe as to when this project can proceed further.

Deputy Sherlock will appreciate that modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task in light of the decades of under-investment in this area and the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe wants to assure the Deputy that the Government has a sincere determination to ensure that all children are educated in appropriate facilities to enable the delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum. This is evidenced by the scale of funding made available for school buildings under the former and current national development plans. Thousands of school building projects were carried out under the last national development plan to provide new and modernised educational infrastructure. Thousands more will be carried out under the new national development plan. Projects will be advanced incrementally through the system over time on a prioritised basis, as and when the funding situation allows. I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter. The Department's planning and building unit is well aware of the needs of Coláiste Pobail Naomh Mhuire. It will be in contact with the VEC when it is in a position to advance the project further.