Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate the opportunity to raise this very important matter for my constituency, specifically Waterville and its hinterland in County Kerry. I was at a well-attended public meeting on Monday night last week at St. Finian's national school in Waterville.

There was not standing room in the school. The meeting was convened to seek support in the locality for a campaign for a new school. The support from the community was evident. A new school is very much needed and long overdue.

The State has never provided a school for the people of Waterville. The current building in which the children of the village and surrounding areas attend school was constructed by the British Government in 1913 and very little work has been done to it since. Since 2008, approximately €300,000 has been spent on maintaining the school and basic capital investment. It was, however, sticking plaster expenditure as there was nothing significant to show for the investment. The money went into a very old building that is very expensive to maintain.

Waterville is bucking the trend for many rural communities as it is doing really well. It is a place that is becoming very vibrant and where jobs are being created, which is wonderful to see. However, with that comes an increase in the population in the area and the school population is no different from the general population in that it is growing and will grow further. What is now a four-teacher school will soon become a five-teacher school. The Department keeps telling the school authorities in Waterville that an extension is the only viable option available. The problem is that the school is located on an extremely confined site of 1.5 acres. The site is on an extremely busy road that is a busy tourism route. Many large vehicles also travel on it. If an extra classroom is provided on the site, there will be no play area and no outside recreational area for the children. That is simply not good enough in this day and age.

The cost of renovating and extending a building that is already more than 100 years old is astronomical and would not be money well spent. A greenfield site is readily available in the village to the school. I support the view of the school community that an extension is not adequate and that a new school is the only solution for Waterville. I know that I speak for all of the Kerry Deputies when I say this because they have all expressed their support for the campaign. The Minister has met the school principal, Gearóid Moran, who is doing excellent work, while his team of staff are doing wonderful work. However, they are confined by the facility in which they are operating and can only do so much. The environment is simply not responsive to the needs of modern education. If we are serious about giving each and every child a top class education, we must prioritise schools such as the one in Waterville for replacement.

Waterville is not in the commuter belt, but it has the same issues faced by many schools in it. The building is inadequate and needs work. A new building is required. The Department must move beyond the current situation where it has sought drawings and further information and acknowledge that a new build is the only way to go. I ask the Minister to spearhead the campaign to try to give the people of Waterville and future generations what they so thoroughly deserve.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I can well understand the concern of the school in Waterville and many others.

I will put the Deputy in the picture in terms of the capital budget, the backdrop against which I must deal with requests such as the one he has made. Every year we must provide approximately 20,000 new school places which roughly are split as follows: 15,000 for new students, given that there is a population bulge, and 5,000 replacement school places. That gives the Deputy an indication of the pressure on the budget.

The Deputy outlined the history of the school in question. St. Finian's national school did make an application in December 2015 to the Department requesting a new school and the Department did engage with it, as the Deputy indicated, last August. The Department examined school enrolments, the building and other factors. At that stage it indicated that it would not be possible to advance a major project at that time but that it was open to undertaking work to improve the school's facilities. Having been fairly stable, last year there was a significant increase in enrolment numbers at the school from 99 pupils to 111, just short of the number required for the appointment of a new teacher. My Department has indicated to the school that it could seek to provide for additional needs with respect to an additional teacher coming on-stream.

I must be honest and say that when one talks about a totally new build, a project must compete with all other projects where currently there is no accommodation available for pupils. That is the difficulty. That said, I am aware that the school submitted technical reports this month to my Department and we will assess them. Only last year a meeting was held to address the future needs of the school. We will look afresh in the building unit at the technical reports, but the backdrop of planning is against a very tight capital budget and the Department must decide on priorities on a rigorous technical appraisal. We will look at the new technical documents submitted.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I must stress the urgency of this case and the Department must treat it as such. The projections are that the enrolment numbers in the school will surpass 120 in the very near future. The school simply cannot cater for that number. There is not an option to extend the school; as such, the Department must treat the project as a priority and fast-track it. The children of Waterville deserve the same treatment as children in the commuter belt or anywhere else in the country. It is not too much to ask that once every 100 years a community look to have a new school built. It is not the case that there is another school 2 km or 3 km away, there is not another school until one reaches Caherdaniel over Coomakista, 15 km away, or Aghatubrid national school near Caherciveen or Killeenleigh national school. The school serves a huge hinterland and it is not acceptable in this day and age to have children in school in the current conditions. I visited the school on numerous occasions during school hours and the children were packed into one classroom, in particular. They are small children, but when they reach the age of 11 or 12 years, they will be twice the size and the classrooms will not be big enough for them. A serious health and safety issue arises.

I spent a limited amount of time in the past working in the area of special needs. I also worked in an autism unit. There are children in St. Finian's national school with special needs and the environment for them is completely unacceptable. They deserve the same start in life as every other child, but they are not getting it. The standard procedure in the Department for processing the application is not good enough. We need more. The staff room is 4 m X 4 m and inadequate. More space is required. I am also very concerned about the lack of a drop off and collection area. The school gate opens onto the street and there is no place to park safely to drop off and collect children. A site is available. I, therefore, ask that the project be fast-tracked.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Tá an Teachta thar am.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Brendan Griffin can talk to the Minister outside the Chamber, for example, at a parliamentary party meeting.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I note that the Minister did not use up his full allocation of time.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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That is a matter for the Minister. My job is to ensure speakers do not take too much time. The Deputy is over time.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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I cannot emphasise sufficiently the urgency of this project.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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We must move on.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I accept the point made by Deputy Brendan Griffin and must reassure him on a couple of points. First, there is no difference in the rules applied in commuter belts or any other area. The Deputy might point to commuter belts where there have been huge explosions of population and new schools are required to respond to them. The figures will indicate that we only replaced a handful of schools last year out of the 4,000 schools across the country. It is very difficult to secure a replacement school. I can understand how people object to the procedures, but they are dictated by financial constraints. We can only stretch the money available to meet certain needs.

The same rules apply everywhere. There is the same prioritisation of technical need and the same assessment of buildings and their capacity and flaws or otherwise. We will look at these new submissions but what the Department has told the school is that it is open to new accommodation but only in the context of immediate needs. That is the position as of now and, unfortunately, I cannot give the Deputy a different answer. That is the position but we will look at the new submissions that have been made.

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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The Minister might visit the school if he gets the opportunity. It would be very much appreciated by the local community.