Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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The two schools to which this Topical Issue relates are in the Dublin West area, which has a particular shortage of schools. This crisis has lasted for over a decade. The population of this area has increased significantly over the past 15 years. A substantial number of houses were built in the area during the building boom, but schools and other necessary facilities did not follow. The local community is still paying the price for that. Nine or ten years ago, the then Government promised two schools in the area, St. Mochta's national school in Clonsilla and St. Patrick's junior national school in Corduff, that they would get new school buildings. Those promises were subsequently restated by the Government. Nine years on, there is no sign of those buildings. The children are being taught in Third World conditions, in essence, with leaking roofs, poor lighting and cold working conditions.

In 2006, the authorities at St. Mochta's national school in Clonsilla were approached by the Department of Education and Science and asked to take on an extra stream in each year. The school did not move from three streams to four streams per year of its own volition but because it was asked by the Department to do so. This meant that the number of children in the school increased by more than 240. The school's board of management, having been promised that the school would be fast-tracked through a building and development programme, agreed in very good faith to take these extra children on that basis. There are 16 classrooms in an old school building that needs to be replaced and a further 16 classes in prefabs outside. It is absolutely disgraceful that 884 children are being taught in such conditions. It is an absolutely giant primary school, by any standards. I do not want the Minister of State, Deputy English, to spend his time telling me about how the school can apply for emergency works or summer works to deal with leaking roofs, etc. We have received such answers in written form. The school authorities want to know whether the school will be on the list next week, after nine years of being promised a new school building. That is all they want to know. I hope the Minister of State will focus on that when he responds. The school has had minor works. It has been declined emergency works on occasion. Those involved with the school want to know whether it will be on the list. They want to be able to bring the school together at some point, rather than having to stagger breaks and get-togethers, etc.

The Department said eight years ago that the second school I am raising, St. Patrick's national school in Corduff, was beyond repair and was no longer fit for people to be taught in.

The Department also said it was more economically viable to take the school down and build a new one. Safety should be the key priority, one would imagine. That school has also been told that it is at stage 2b and that everything is in order. However, it has not been given permission to go to the tendering stage and has not been put on the new list.

I wish to outline quickly what the children in that school are dealing with. The school has no insulation so from November until April the teachers and students sit with their coats on. This is in the recovering Ireland. The school spends all of its capitation grant on oil to heat the building and the school is constantly in the red. Electricians have said that the school is not safe, which is a health and safety issue. There are interactive whiteboards which cannot be used because the electrical system is not able for it. To add insult to injury, there are also sewerage problems and drainage companies have been on site continuously. Children and staff have to endure a continuous bad smell. Does the Minister of State believe that this is going on? I listened to the previous speaker talking about Dublin getting this, that and the other but we have two Government Ministers in Dublin West and this is the condition of schools in that area. They have not delivered a solitary thing for one of the fastest growing areas in the city. Corduff, by the way, is a disadvantaged area with sufficient problems already without putting children through this too.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Coppinger for raising the matter again. We had discussions previously about how bad planning has had a major affect on her area in the context of the provision of education places, given the number of houses that have been built there. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter again. Deputy Coppinger has argued that previous governments have made promises but this Government has not done that. We have tried to reform the system of delivery of education places, which hopefully will result in the correction of the shortage of places in most areas such as Dublin West and other key places.

Again, I thank her for raising the matter as it gives me the opportunity to remind the House of the significant challenges facing the Department in terms of meeting increasing demand for pupil places throughout the country in the coming years and to clarify the current position on the major capital projects for St. Patrick's national school, Corduff and St. Mochta's national school.

As the Deputy will be aware, significant capital funding will be invested in our education system through the Government's €27 billion capital programme announced in September, with some €3.8 billion being invested in education projects. The new construction plan for 2016 to 2021 aims to prioritise new building projects and major extensions, including special schools, in areas where significant demographic need has been established.

The Deputy will also be aware that the country has experienced an unprecedented population increase in recent years. This demographic growth has posed a significant challenge for the provision of school places and the challenge is set to continue. My Department's demographic projections show that enrolment at primary level will continue to increase substantially until at least 2019 while the demand for additional school places in the post-primary sector will continue to increase until at least 2022. The new plan will give my Department the capacity to deliver some 19,000 additional permanent primary school places required by 2019 and 43,000 additional post-primary school places required by 2022. The new plan also provides for devolved funding for additional classrooms for schools outside the plan where an immediate enrolment need has been identified, such as the appointment of an additional teacher. In addition, the plan prioritises projects that have a major deficit of mainstream accommodation capacity for current enrolments, require major refurbishment and replacement of poor accommodation and to provide additional accommodation to meet increases in enrolments.

I wish to advise the Deputy that both major building projects referenced are currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning, stage 2b, which includes applications for planning permission, a fire safety certificate, a disability access certificate and the preparation of tender documents. All statutory approvals have been secured. The design team has recently completed tender documents for the St. Patrick's junior and senior national schools project to provide the new accommodation on the existing site, with stage 2b approved. The project for St. Mochta's national school entails the construction of an extension to the existing building and refurbishment. The design team is in the process of completing tender documents.

While it was not possible to include the projects referred to by the Deputy in the current five-year building programme, I wish to advise the Deputy that the projects will be available for consideration for the new six-year plan that we intend to announce shortly. I know Deputy Coppinger would like me to tell her today that they are included in that plan but I am not in a position to do so. Much research has gone into making decisions and the plan is very close to completion. It will be announced in the coming weeks and hopefully if, as Deputy Coppinger has said, the need is very clear, that will put those projects ahead of the game. They are in a good position to be included in the next plan and hopefully we will be able to deliver on that. The plan is all about trying to respond to the need for additional accommodation. Hopefully the two schools referred to by Deputy Coppinger will be included but I cannot confirm that now. I wish I could give her a definitive answer today but I cannot.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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That is simply not good enough. It is not enough to say that St. Patrick's and St. Mochta's will be available for consideration. They must be on that new list. They have been promised it for nine years now. We keep hearing that Ireland is in recovery and there is no excuse for the Government to delay this any longer. It is not just a question of bad planning and promises made by previous regimes. Myself and Deputy Joe Higgins are sick, sore and tired of attending meetings in St. Mochta's over the years, where Ministers, including some from the current Government, promised the community that they would ensure those projects would become a reality. I attended those public meetings myself during local election and by-election campaigns and so forth.

If those schools are not on the new list, I will call on parents and teachers to use their votes in the forthcoming election and to make sure they mobilise their communities. I will also call on them to refuse to put children, teachers, SNAs and other employees through this any longer and to consider taking the extra 300 children who were enrolled out of the school in protest. Why should children suffer for broken promises by the establishment parties in Dublin West? There are other schools in the area, including Mary Help of Christians on the Navan Road, where children are in prefabs. We also need the Rathborne Educate Together school on the Navan Road to be built. The other crisis looming in the area is secondary school places. Even though there has been a catch up in terms of some of the primary schools, the school community has grown older.

It is not acceptable that children should go to a school where there are buckets in the corridors to collect rainwater. Does the Minister of State think it is acceptable? Does he think it is acceptable that children should wear their coats in class and that all of the funding for a school in a hard-pressed working class community is spent on heating a draughty school, rather than on resources such as computers which other schools in more well-heeled areas have?

It is scandalous that the Department of Education and Skills approached the board of management at St. Mochta's and asked the members to take on additional pupils. They did so in good faith but they have been spurned and shunned again and again. I will make sure that the people of Dublin West use their political power in the forthcoming election and mobilise the community to get these two schools built.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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In terms of the two schools to which the Deputy refers, the concerns and issues with the Department are well rehearsed. The Deputy is right - the conditions in which the pupils are being educated are not acceptable. It is the aim of the Department to reform the system to be able to maximise the use of public finances to provide accommodation where it is required in the first instance, that is, to be able to give all students enrolling for the first time in primary or secondary school a place to go to school. That is the key priority. Our second priority is to make sure that such accommodation is suitable.

I am glad that Deputy Coppinger is now admitting that this country is in recovery. Thankfully, that jobs-based recovery means that we are in a position to announce in the coming weeks a major capital investment plan in our schools, both new and existing. That is important and could not be achieved if we did not have a jobs-based recovery, which gives us the finances to do that. I hope we can stretch those finances as far as possible. The extra money that is now available will mean that additional schools will be built and extra accommodation provided. Hopefully those additional resources will allow us to resolve some of the problems the Deputy has raised. I am sure Deputy Coppinger will agree with that. A key part of investing in education is that it will gives us jobs for the future and allow us to continue investing in education down the line. I am glad the Deputy has finally admitted that the Government is doing something right with the recovery, which leaves us in a position-----

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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We are not feeling the recovery. That is the problem. We are not feeling it in our schools.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Coppinger just said it, which is good.

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Some recovery - no houses and no schools.