Dáil debates

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Topical Issue Debate

Schools Building Projects

3:15 pm

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I refer to the very frustrating situation at St. Paul's in Monasterevin. As we had the opportunity to speak about this issue at length yesterday at the meeting of the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, I will be brief today.

The school was declared structurally unsound in 2004, but it is still in place, in all of its glory, with more than double the numbers. There are only two toilet cubicles for 207 boys; there is no staff room; the prefabs are damp; the heating system is erratic and there is no gym. I commend the staff, principal and school community for the wonderful work they do. The principal, Mr. Brian Bergin, gave a great account of the excellent school community, but it is incredibly frustrated. Can the Minister say whether the process of acquiring a site has been finalised? A site has been on the horizon for the past 15 years. Can he say when the design element will be finalised? The people of Monasterevin are being served very well by the principal and staff of St. Paul's, but, sadly, they are not being served well by the State.

Last week the Minister announced the provision of 16 new second level schools, but Kildare South, despite having been on the 2015 list, was left off the new list, which is incredible. The figures supplied by the Department do not stack up. There is no political will on the part of the Fine Gael Government to deliver a new second level school in south Kildare, despite the figures that have been provided. South Kildare is the fastest growing region in the country. Between 2011 and 2016, the population of the area grew at 143% of the growth rate for the State. In the south Kildare Educate Together report sent to the Minister last August it was noted that in seven years there would be more than 400 students without a school place, but the Minister does not see this as a problem. I understand numbers come into it, but yesterday at the aforementioned committee meeting officials told members that the Department was seeking to provide 1,250 extra places in existing schools to meet the demand. Surely, the answer to the problem is to provide a new second level school in south Kildare.

Photo of Martin HeydonMartin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to raise this very important issue on the floor of the House. Last week's announcement by the Department of 16 new second level schools was met by real disappointment in Kildare South. An Educate Together campaign has highlighted concerns about future capacity at second level in Kildare South. The campaign has been running for the past four years, but there is obviously a belief within the Department that proposed extensions and a new build at St. Paul's in Monasterevin will suffice in addressing increased demand. However, many people in south Kildare disagree with the Department. What nobody disagrees on is that there will be increased future demand in County Kildare. The disagreements centre on the level of that demand, where it will be and how it should be met. It is important that we move quickly to deal with the matter. Following last week's announcement, the focus must be on expediting the proposed extensions as quickly as possible and the new build at St. Paul's in Monasterevin which has been delayed for far too long. It is only then that we will be able to determine whether we can meet the need for second level places in the area and, as I hope, push for a new school down the line.

A new school building for St. Paul's in Monasterevin is even more critical than this time last week. We spent hours with departmental officials yesterday at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills going through the history of this case which I have highlighted with the Minister on previous occasions. We spoke about the conditions students and staff had to endure, the history of the case, from the explosion in 2000 when prefabs were provided, inclusion in the 2005 building list and the fact that the Department and Kildare County Council had worked together in sorting out a site which had hit an awful lot of problems. Site selection is something which will have to be reviewed.

According to the Department's profile, construction will start in quarter three of 2019, but the design team for St. Paul's is confident that the project could be ready for construction by quarter one of 2019, a good six months earlier. Six months is a long time in the context of the school year. Departmental officials said there would be no delay in that regard. I urge the Minister to ensure every effort will be made to see construction starting at the beginning rather than the end of next year. I also ask him to ensure the plan submitted by the design team last week will be turned around by the Department by the end of this month, if possible. I know that such a turnaround normally takes eight to 12 weeks, but priority must be given to St. Paul's and the delivery of the extensions at Cross and Passion College in Kilcullen, Athy community college, Patrician secondary school in Newbridge and the 500 spaces at St. Conleth's community college that are being constructed.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I can understand their concerns. I assure Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin that decisions on the location of schools are not political. Such decisions are not made by Ministers but by the Department. Every one of the 314 planning areas is treated in the same fashion. Areas are evaluated fairly against the demographic profiles available which are based on existing child benefit payments, school enrolments and local authority plans for housing developments. Decisions are based on the best available information and every area is treated equally.

There are five schools that have projects in the Department's plan for the next six years and that forms the background to the assessment of needs that has occurred. I can understand the Deputies' concerns about St. Paul's in Monasterevin and know that the Ceann Comhairle shares them. It has been in the six-year programme and is currently at stage 2b, detailed design stage, where the planning applications, fire certificates, disability access certificates and so on are provided. The design team submitted its completed stage 2b report on 10 April and it is envisaged that the review of same will be completed by the end of April. In February the Department wrote to the school and the design team to give them an outline of the projected timeframe because it was acutely aware of the concern that the project should be subject to no further delays. It outlined that the pre-qualification element normally took eight to 12 weeks and explained the steps required to ensure the school would be a near zero energy building. This will be followed by progression to the tender stage which normally takes between seven and eight months. The Department has projected that construction will commence in the third quarter of 2019. In response to Deputy Martin Heydon's query, I can confirm that if the design team can deliver the project to proceed to construction at an earlier time, the Department will re-profile accordingly.

The Department is in the process of acquiring a site at Moore Abbey, Monasterevin. Agreement in principle was achieved in April 2013, but the vendor insisted on full planning permission being obtained prior to the sale being completed. Full planning permission was secured in July 2017 and the current state of play is that the Chief State Solicitor's office is working with the landowners' legal representative with a view to concluding the conveyancing. The Department is absolutely committed to completion of the school.

As regards the project at St. Conleth's community college in Newbridge, builders are on site and student intake is due to being in September.

The Athy College project has been devolved to Kildare-Wicklow Education and Training Board. The delivery of that building project will increase the capacity at the school by 600 pupils, with a long-term projected enrolment of 1,000. The Cross and Passion secondary school in Kilcullen is progressing. A technical site visit has been undertaken at that site. The delivery of this project will increase the capacity at the school by 200 pupil places. It is at project brief stage. The project at Patrician College in Newbridge is also at project brief stage. A site visit to the school has been undertaken. The Department will be in contact with that school in this regard. When the project is complete, it will provide capacity for approximately 900 students. It is against that background that I understand the Department has assessed that 1,700 additional school places are planned to be delivered as I have set out. The Department expects that there will also be some growth in the Kildare town planning area. It anticipates that it will be possible to meet the level of demand there by extending the capacity of existing provision. These assessments are kept under continuous review by the planning section of my Department. That is the basis on which the decision was made by the Department. Obviously, the data on which that decision was based is objective and assembled from independent sources.

3:25 pm

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his response. While I welcome the delivery of school accommodation in Newbridge, Kilcullen and Athy, I am confused about why south Kildare was on the list in 2015 but not on the list in 2018. Is there a suggestion that the political will which existed three years ago is now gone? Given that the population of County Kildare is growing exponentially, I cannot understand why it has gone backwards on the list. County Galway was included in the 2015 review and is included in the new-build list. Can the Minister provide figures that illustrate why County Galway was chosen and County Kildare was not chosen? We had a long conversation with the officials about the geographic information system yesterday. I certainly believe it is outdated. It is not as accurate as one would hope. While I am pleased to hear that the Minister will continue to review the position in south Kildare, I would like to hear the rationale for the decision not to include it. The provision of ASD units is a particular issue. We have 64 such units at primary level but just 18 at secondary level. I do not see where provision for additional ASD units has been included in the current plans. The position at St. Paul's secondary school in Monasterevin must be addressed with absolute urgency because the staff and students are operating in a difficult and challenging educational environment. Morale is really low. We need to have very fast delivery in relation to this school.

Photo of Martin HeydonMartin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I particularly welcome his important clarification that if the design team for St. Paul's secondary school in Monasterevin can deliver a new school building more quickly, the Department will roll with that. His confirmation that the school will be contacted on its latest design submission by the end of April is absolutely crucial too. The matter of choice is a very important one in this respect. People in the south Kildare area want increased choice of educational provision. That was the predominant factor that led to the Educate Together campaign. I know there have been discussions between the Educate Together movement at national level and the school authorities at St. Conleth's Community College in Newbridge. I ask the Department to look at that because there are people who want increased choice to be provided in the south Kildare area. I welcome the decision of the patron of Brannockstown primary school, which has closed, to divest the school. I have been involved with the committee of Save the School Brannockstown. There is an opportunity for more choice in the provision of primary education in Brannockstown. It is a real possibility for the broader community there.

There has been a substantial increase in the population of south Kildare over the last couple of decades. The population of the county has increased by over 100,000. As the Government's Rebuilding Ireland policy takes hold, building sites are opening up. The increase in the number of planning permissions being granted is going to lead to further demographic pressures. We disagree with the Department's decision not to grant a new school in south Kildare, as announced last week. We will continue to ask the Department to ensure the ongoing analysis that has been mentioned by the Minister is expedited so that the proposed extensions that are needed at Patrician College in Newbridge, St. Conleth's community college in Newbridge, Cross and Passion College in Kilcullen and Athy community college are delivered as soon as possible. Each of these projects would provide the additional ASD classes that are badly needed in the south Kildare area. Even if these projects go ahead, the Department needs to keep an open mind regarding the provision of a new school. I believe such a school will be needed down the line.

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I understand the Deputies' frustration. Approximately 30 planning areas, from a total of 314 such areas, have been approved for new schools. In some cases, the need is being met by programmes that are already under way. In the area we are discussing, five school projects are already under way. In other cases, the need is being met through the potential expansion of existing schools. As the Chairman of the joint committee, Deputy O'Loughlin has had access to the officials who advise me on these matters. I think they have made themselves available to assure her of how they are applying these rules. People can criticise the rules. I understand why people put the rules under scrutiny when decisions that are unfavourable to them are made. I assure the House that they are applied even-handedly and fairly across all areas.

As Deputy Heydon has said, we factor additional ASD units into our school programmes and they are being factored into these plans. Over recent years, we have more than doubled the number of ASD units at second level. The number of such units is growing more quickly than the number of such units at primary level. That reflects the success we are having in enabling students to continue on to second level. I assure the Deputies that I regard educational provision in south Kildare as extremely important. I will seek constant updates from the Department on the progress of St. Paul's secondary school in Monasterevin, in particular.