Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Question 8: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding the proposal to provide additional permanent accommodation at a school (details supplied) in County Cavan; if this application will be reviewed in view of the urgent need to provide much needed accommodation and in view of the growth in the pupil enrolment of that school over recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25885/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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There are five primary schools in the Virginia feeder area. While enrolments have increased over the past decade, my Department has projected that future enrolments will remain relatively stable up to 2018. The current enrolment at St. Mary's is 380 pupils, up from 350 in 2007, so, while enrolment levels have been growing at the school, they have increased by less than 10% over the last five years.

To ensure that every child has access to a school place, the delivery of projects to meet the increasing demographic demands will be the main focus for capital investment over the next five years, particularly in those areas where it has been identified that most future demographic growth will be concentrated. The project for St. Mary's will continue to progress within the context of available funding. However, due to competing demands on the capital budget, it is not possible at this time to progress the project to construction stage.

The Deputy may recall I met a delegation from this school when I was in Virginia. It is clearly a very successful and popular school and its numbers have increased. However, there are a total of five schools in the same catchment area. I suggest to the Deputy to explore the possibility of collaboration or co-operation between those five schools because it would appear to us, from where we are, that other schools are not getting the same kind of overall increase.

This school, which is accommodated in prefabs, clearly experiences major demand. I met the principal and a number of others at that time. While it may be difficult for the Deputy to contemplate, he should consider the total catchment area of Virginia to see whether there are other solutions that can overcome the constraints. At present, we have to stick to areas where there is overall demographic demand, which there is not in this catchment area.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. The four other schools in that area, thankfully, have had new accommodation in recent years. The capacity of each of those schools is being maximised.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Okay.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I will outline some facts which are very relevant to this school. The population of Virginia increased by 31% between 2006 and 2011.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Yes.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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From 2003 to 2012, the school enrolment has doubled, reaching 380. Since last September, 81 pupils have joined that school, the largest enrolment ever. There has been massive expenditure on temporary accommodation and it is now at the stage were some of the prefabs need to be replaced with additional accommodation. The project was included, as the Minister knows, in the 2011 school building programme and was at early architectural planning stage. What I and the local community want is that this project would proceed through the next stage.

The Minister was with us in Virginia. Additional permanent accommodation has been provided at all local second level schools and I was very active in support of those projects. As we all know, because of the growth of population, the pressure comes on the primary school sector in terms of accommodation earlier than on the second level sector. On a further point, 77% of the fifth and sixth class pupils in St. Mary's were born outside the parish.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I will be happy to meet the Deputy and others in that constituency. There has been a population explosion in the Virginia area because of the outer reach of the commuter belt of Dublin and all the rest. There are certain factors which are, shall we say, not normal and I would be happy to look at it in that broader sense. I recognise there is a problem which, if not necessarily unique, is quite acute in the area.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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To give one other example, 52 new local authority houses have been built and are about to be allocated. I know from my constituency work that many young people will be moving into the area with families, which we welcome. In a county that was ravaged by emigration in the past, I am particularly proud of the fact there has been huge growth in population in recent years throughout County Cavan, particularly in that area of the county.

With regard to the systems for projections now used by the Department, the geographical information system, GIS, has its strengths but there is one issue which the Minister and his officials would want to bear in mind. The GIS figures fail to take into account when a family moves from one location to another. The child benefit payment does not require a change of address so the GIS capacity and facility is only relevant if the bank details change. When I was a student in Dublin, I opened a bank account and I have not changed from that bank since. Most people do not change their banks because we never stand in a bank today-----

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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For a Cavan man, it would be a very valuable bank account.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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We come from a poor area, not from Deputy Naughten's rich pasturelands of south Roscommon. The issue of the GIS is one on which we need to be careful, as I know from speaking to many of the local people in Virginia. The Minister met Fr. Dermot Prior, the chairperson of the board of management, and the principal, Mr. Peadar Quealy. The board of management, the parents association and the principal are all very committed to St. Mary's national school and are anxious that it would get the new permanent accommodation it needs. It was built for six teachers whereas there are now a total of 20 teachers plus nine support staff. The situation is practically intolerable for the school community, both pupils and staff. The concerns of the parents are-----

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I invite the Deputy to try to address those, shall we say, statistical deficits because there are anomalies, as I heard at the time. If that information can be improved or clarified in terms of its accuracy, we will see what that produces. I am sympathetic to the Deputy's point because I have seen this at first hand.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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We would be very glad of that. Hopefully, the application can be reviewed with a view to making progress to construction stage as soon as possible.