Dáil debates

Thursday, 4 December 2008

Adjournment Debate

School Accommodation.

4:00 pm

Photo of Joanna TuffyJoanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I wish to draw attention to the need for permanent accommodation for Scoil na Camóige in Clondalkin. The school was not included in the list of school buildings announced recently by the Minister for Education and Science. This is very surprising and disappointing for the school, its board of management, the parents and the children. The school has been in temporary accommodation for 15 years and, for most of this time, it has been in prefabricated buildings that are approximately 20 years old.

The school must be one of the schools waiting longest for permanent accommodation. I have raised in the past the fact that Gaelscoileanna seem to be faring very badly in this regard. Many of the schools awaiting permanent accommodation for a long time seem to be Gaelscoileanna. Fifteen years is an extremely long period, particularly given that the school in question is in very unsatisfactory accommodation.

Let me outline the history of the school's request for permanent accommodation. Great hope was given to the school, the parents and children in the lead-up to the general election in 2007 in that they were led to believe a permanent school building would be provided. The issue of the site for the building appeared to have been resolved. Government Deputies, including the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, and the Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy John Curran, were very quick to give good news to parents in this regard.

I have a copy of a leaflet issued in this period by the Minister for Health and Children. It stated she was delighted with the progress made up to that point on what was an important issue for Clondalkin. It also stated she hoped any outstanding details could be resolved very quickly. She paid tribute to all who would be involved in making this happen, especially the parents, who were described as being so energetic and committed in their campaign for the new school site. The Minister thanked them for their kind words regarding the help she had given them and stated she was only too delighted to have pulled out all the stops to make that happen. However, nothing has happened since and the school is in exactly the same position as it was during the general election campaign in 2007. It is still in the same prefabs and the improvements made to those were done out of money raised by parents and the school board of management.

Recent correspondence from the Department of Education and Science does not offer much hope to the school. A letter to the council which had raised the issue with the Department states that the school building would be considered in the context of the Department's multi-annual school building and modernisation programme. Nothing is stated about when the school will be built.

In 2007, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, said that everybody agreed that the current prefab school was not suitable for the pupils or staff and that a new school building was required. At the time serious concerns were expressed about health and safety concerns with regard to the prefabs. There were problems with heating and a student had fainted in the classroom.

Recently, the principal requested the council to carry out a dampness report on the school. Serious dampness problems were found. There was poor ventilation in the girls' toilets, damp in the boys' toilets and a firedoor needed a draught excluder fitted. The corridor was recorded on the upper register of the damp meter. There was mould in the staff room and in the toilets and there was high damp registration in many of the classrooms. Mould was found on the building. This could cause problems for the pupils because mould has been found to be a factor for people who have asthma.

In general, prefab buildings are not very energy efficient, getting over-heated in summer and taking too long to heat in the winter. Considerable costs are involved in heating prefabs. If any school should be given priority in the school building programme, Gaelscoil na Camóige is that school. I wish the Minister of State to update me on this matter.

Photo of Conor LenihanConor Lenihan (Dublin South 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 position with regard to the Department's plans to provide for the infrastructural needs of the three all-Irish schools in Clondalkin, including Gaelscoil na Camóige.

The three schools are Gaelscoil na Camóige and Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin which are primary schools, and Coláiste Chillian, a post-primary school. Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin and Coláiste Chillian currently occupy the same VEC-owned site in Clondalkin. Gaelscoil na Camóige occupies rented accommodation in the area.

The Department is committed to providing permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil na Camóige and, with the assistance of the Office of Public Works, it made strenuous attempts to acquire a suitable site to enable this. None was available. The Department then sought the assistance of the County of Dublin VEC to arrive at a solution. An earlier VEC proposal was rejected by the school authority but a second proposal was accepted. This involves the provision of permanent accommodation for the school on the Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin-Coláiste Chillian site.

Gaelscoil na Camóige has a current enrolment of 225 pupils. Its staffing comprises a principal and eight classroom assistants. The school also has two special education teachers. Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin currently has 279 pupils on roll and has a staffing complement of a principal and ten classroom assistants. Three special education teachers are employed there. The intention is to provide each school with permanent accommodation for 16 mainstream classroom assistants to cater for the long-term needs of the area. It is also intended that the schools will re-organise to form a junior and a senior school. The current enrolment for Coláiste Chillian is 387 pupils. Its accommodation is being increase to provide for 680 pupils to cater for demand from the expansion of the primary schools.

The Department asked the VEC to carry out a master plan of the site to ascertain if it could facilitate the plans to accommodate all three schools. This has been done and the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, is pleased to be able to inform the Deputy that the site can be developed as intended. The next step is the appointment of a design team to commence architectural planning.

As the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, has explained in this House on a number of occasions, all applications for large-scale capital funding, including the one in question, are assessed against published prioritisation criteria and assigned a band rating. Projects are selected for inclusion in a capital programme consistent with that band rating. The band rating attaching to this project is band 1.4, a high rating, and reflects the fact that all-Irish infrastructural provision in the area is to be rationalised.

However, due to the scale of the demand on the capital budget of the Department of Education and Sciene, it is not possible to provide an indicative timeframe for the progression of the project at this time. Recently the Minister explained the situation in this regard to a delegation from the school.

The Minister is aware there are issues with regard to the school's temporary accommodation. The Department of Education and Science has informed the board of management that it has the responsibility to ensure that the accommodation it is renting is suitable for school use. It should raise matters of concern directly with the landlord and ensure they are addressed to its satisfaction.

I thank the Deputy again for raising this matter and I assure her that I acknowledge the need for permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil na Camóige. I am committed to providing this as soon as the necessary funding is available.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.20 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 9 December 2008.