Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to discuss this very important issue on the floor of the Dáil. It is projected that the Presentation Convent national school will experience huge growth by 2014 or 2015. At present the enrolment figure is approximately 240 and it is projected this will rise to 289 in September 2013 and to 340 by September 2016. It has received one extra mainstream classroom teacher, but its immediate problem is a shortfall in accommodation, and a mainstream classroom, a language room and a resource room are required. In 2007 and 2008 the national school received a grant to purchase two prefabricated classrooms. At the time, the board of management thought it would have been very bad value to accept money for prefabricated classrooms, so it applied to the Department to be allowed to raise money locally to be used with the grant to build permanent classrooms. The Department and the then Minister, Batt O'Keeffe, were convinced to go with this scheme. It was a pilot scheme, being the first such scheme in the country. The school went ahead and provided extra classrooms with the money allocated by the Department for prefabricated classrooms. This has been huge value for money.

I visited the school recently and it has enormous problems. It got the best value for money possible from the last tranche of funding it received from the Department. The board of management involved a very good local engineer and much good work was done with the builders. Now it has a short-term problem and difficulties will arise in September 2013. It has been allocated an extra mainstream classroom teacher but there is no room for that teacher. The projected enrolments mean a huge problem will occur in 2016. What does the Department of Education and Skills envisage for the school? This issue requires urgent attention. I understand inspectors from the Department visited the school recently to discuss the problem. Short-term and long-term problems exist with regard to accommodation. We need to take a holistic approach. The Department will throw money at a short-term problem to try to sort it out but the long-term issue needs to be considered. The Department needs to examine the school's space and ground. The board of management is very innovative and this has been proved in the past. In agreement with the Department it can stretch a euro as far as possible. The short-term and long-term problems need to be examined because this rural school will experience a huge growth rate in the coming years.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. I thank the Deputy for raising it as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the position on the application for additional accommodation received from Millstreet Convent national school, County Cork. It is a co-educational primary school catering for boys and girls from junior infants to second class and for girls only from third to sixth class. I am aware the school had 218 enrolled pupils in September 2011 and that the current enrolment is 244 pupils, as the Deputy outlined. I understand the school expects enrolments to increase further next September 2013.

On 5 October the Department of Education and Skills received an application from the school for the provision of one additional mainstream classroom and two learning support rooms to meet its current needs. In addition, the Department received a further application from the school on 15 October for major capital funding to provide additional mainstream classrooms to cater for the school's projected longer term enrolments.

In this regard, the Department of Education and Skills will examine the demographics of the area concerned. The analysis will take into account results from census 2011, child benefit data for the area and an examination of current school enrolments with a view to establishing future accommodation requirements for the area. The school's applications will be assessed in the context of the Department's analysis of need in the area and a decision on the applications will be conveyed to the school authority subsequently.

The Deputy will be aware that the five year programme which the Minister, Deputy Quinn, announced on 12 March 2012 will provide more than 100,000 permanent school places, of which 80,000 will be new school places. The remainder will be the replacement of temporary or unsatisfactory accommodation. Where an immediate enrolment need in an area has been identified, such as the appointment of an additional teacher, and where a school's existing accommodation cannot provide for this growth, the Department considers applications by schools for capital funding for additional classrooms, mainly on a devolved basis. The delivery of new schools, together with extension projects to meet future demand, will be the main focus of the Department's budget for the coming years.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for outlining the facts. The board of management has been in discussion with the local community to get a room for the extra classroom. The Department will provide money for a prefab, but the school does not want this because it is a short-term solution and it believes it would be a waste of vital resources. The Minister of State outlined extra school places would be provided in developing areas. This school is classified as a developing school. It is probably one of the few developing schools outside of the greater urban centres. An immediate problem has arisen and an application was received by the Department on 5 October. I am asking for every urgency to be given to this so the board of management is not left in limbo until all of the issues have been gone through. Surely they can be correlated and examined as a matter of urgency. A holistic approach must be taken, not only on the short-term issue but also on the school's status as a developing school because of the projected growth in numbers in the coming years. Will the Minister of State ensure there is no delay in the Department, that the application is processed as quickly as possible and that the school does not just get an answer to the short-term issue but also obtains a solution for the long-term issue coming down the tracks?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I note the Deputy's concerns in this regard and the points he has made on the school's developing school status. I reiterate that the Department will be in contact with the school when the demographic analysis in the area has been completed.

If, through the good offices of the Deputy, the board of management was to contact me directly, I would be happy to engage with the school, subject to all of the criteria, particularly the budgetary criteria, laid down in that regard. Perhaps we can take a look at this with a view to solving the problem without giving any false hope at this stage. I would be happy to visit the school if such an invitation was extended to me. I am not making any promises but there may be ways around this. It is important that the Department has the opportunity to complete the vital demographic study.