Dáil debates
Thursday, 7 December 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
School Facilities
6:25 pm
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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We will now move to Deputy Cannon. The question is to discuss the urgent need for an indoor sports facility at Seamount College in Kinvara, County Galway. It is the home of Karen Weekes, is that correct?
Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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That is correct.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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She is some woman.
Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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She is an extraordinary woman and athlete. I thank the Minister of State for being here to listen to the powerful case I want to make for the provision of an indoor sports hall for Seamount College, a superb school in the heart of Kinvara. It is embedded in the life of the Kinvara community and south Galway. It is difficult to understand why a school that will approach enrolment of approximately 700 students next September does not have an indoor space for physical activity. In addition, it has no indoor space where the whole school community can assemble for any reason. When trying to build cohesion and a sense of solidarity in any community, be it a school or otherwise, the opportunity to get together, meet, socialise and engage is important, particularly in those formative years. We all remember those years as teenagers and how important that was. I and the school management, principal, board of management and school team have repeatedly made the case that it is unacceptable in the early 21st century for a post-primary school to operate without access to an on-site indoor sports facility.
I have engaged with the Department of Education on numerous occasions. In the first chapter of that engagement, I was told repeatedly by the Department and its officials in the building unit in Tullamore that the priority was - this line may even be in the Minister of State's reply - to build classrooms and that was where funding allocations and resources was going. It was not the policy of the Department to provide sports halls for existing schools, even if they were undergoing significant renovations. I am grateful to the Department and the people in Tullamore for the investment they are making in classrooms, science laboratories and staffroom facilities. There is a huge construction project under way in Seamount as we speak. Unfortunately, it does not include a sports hall. When I asked why that was, I was told it was the policy of the Department not to do so as part of the refurbishment or ongoing renovation of schools. I knew that not to be the case because just 10 km away in another excellent school, Gort Community School, an extension and renovations are under way. Some 44 classrooms will be provided along with a new sports hall, which is welcome and most deserved in Gort. About 20 km away in Loughrea in St. Raphael's College, there was another investment recently in new classrooms and a new sports hall. I tabled a parliamentary question asking simply how many schools had also been allocated a sports hall provision as part of the renovation and extension of normal school accommodation. The answer was 21. This has been done 21 times in the past five years, yet, for some strange reason, Seamount College in Kinvara seems to have been excluded from this process.
There is another issue, on which I will expand further when I reply again, around the provision of special education. The NCSE recently requested that Seamount College respond to a dearth of autism provision in south Galway by developing two ASD units, which the board of management and school community are more than willing to do. However, they are unwilling to do so and subject the children who would be part of those units and their current school cohort to a situation in which, if they were accommodated, thery would not have any indoor place for physical exercise.
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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On behalf of the Minister for Education, I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify the position concerning the Department of Education’s plans and specifically regarding the application for a PE Hall at Seamount College, Kinvara, County Galway. The Deputy may be aware that Seamount College is a mixed Catholic secondary school in the town of Kinvara. The school had an enrolment in September 2022 of 608 pupils and in September 2023 of 620 pupils. The school is located in the Kinvara school planning area and there are currently six primary schools and one post-primary school in this school planning area. I am pleased to advise the Deputy that a building project for the provision of 12 general classrooms, one technology room and preparation area, two home economics rooms, one art and craft room, one science laboratory and preparation area and one staff room, along with an assisted-user WC is currently at construction stage. The school submitted a further additional school accommodation application to the Department of Education in May 2023, requesting funding for the reconfiguration of existing accommodation for special education classes, a soft play area, a PE hall and changing facilities. The purpose of the additional school accommodation scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream and special education classroom accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year and where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation or by available accommodation at other schools in the area. A request for a PE hall does not come within the remit of the additional school accommodation scheme. Since 2020, the Department of Education has invested approximately €3.5 billion in schools throughout the country, involving the completion of more than 690 school building projects and construction under way in approximately 300 other projects. School building projects at construction involve an overall State investment of more than €1.2 billion. There are also 200 modular accommodation projects which are well advanced for delivery or at construction stage. This is a record level of investment in our schools and highlights the Government’s strong track record of delivery in providing additional capacity and modern facilities for school communities.
A future strengthened focus on refurbishment of existing school stock will have different strands. It will include a PE build and modernisation programme which will enable students in post-primary schools to have access to appropriate facilities to support PE provision, particularly in the context of the roll-out of PE as a leaving certificate subject. Enhanced and modernised PE facilities will also provide important amenities for local communities. However, the main focus of the Department’s capital funding over the past decade and for the coming period is on the provision of critical additional capacity to cater for increasing demographics and children with special education needs. The Department is required to manage the overall school building programme so that we target and prioritise the areas under greatest pressure for additional school places. This reflects the Department’s fundamental objective of ensuring the availability of a school place for every child.
The overall position with regard to potential modernisation and replacement of existing school infrastructure will be kept under review as capital funding allocations for future years are clarified. The Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform will engage with Departments on national development plan allocations for 2026 to 2028 over the coming months, with allocation decisions expected in the first half of 2024. With respect to special education, the Department works closely with the NCSE on forward planning for increased special education provision in the form of additional special classes and special school places. This close engagement with the NCSE involves strategic planning to ensure that existing accommodation capacity, where it exists, is utilised and maximised in the context of providing new special classes. It also facilitates the identification of required accommodation solutions where additional capacity is required. Officials in the Department of Education have been engaging with Seamount College regarding its application for additional accommodation and will continue to liaise with the school and the NCSE regarding any requirements for accommodation for children with special educational needs.
Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I do not take issue with the Minister of State but it is as I expected from the Department. It said a request for a PE hall does not come within the remit of the additional school accommodation scheme, yet it did this 21 times in 21 other schools and in a school just 10 km away from Seamount. Why it decided to single out Seamount for special treatment in denying it this facility is a mystery to me.
I will not relent until I get to the bottom of this. It is deeply unjust. It is limiting the school's capacity to deliver the full curriculum.
The Minister of State rightly mentioned the importance of the PE curriculum. In 2022, the World Health Organization, WHO, described Ireland as having reached epidemic levels of obesity. One in three of our schoolchildren is obese. The National Children's Research Centre tells us all of these obese children are at higher risk of developing comorbidity diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer later in life. Here we have a school that is ready to deliver the PE curriculum to the fullest extent but it does not have the facilities to do so. In addition, it is being requested - implored, one might argue - by the NCSE to develop two ASD units because of the vacuum in post-primary provision across south County Galway. We have two excellent primary level ASD units in Ballinderreen and in St. Joseph's National School, Kinvara. Children in Kinvara are approximately 100 m from Seamount and children in Ballinderreen are between 4 km and 5 km from it. Without Seamount, those children have nowhere to go to access ASD provision when they reach sixth class. The board of management rightly points out that it would be irresponsible of them to provide for children with autism in its school when it does not have an indoor physical activity space available for them. Again, I ask the Minister of State to engage with the Minister, Deputy Foley, and impress upon her the urgency and need for this facility to be provided in the shortest possible timeframe.
6:35 pm
Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I will not go through the answer again. There is obviously significant construction planned for the school, including special needs education rooms. I do not understand the situation described by the Deputy, nor can I can pretend to. There may be reasons for it. There may be particularities around the site or the school that I am not aware of. However, I commit to raising the matter directly with the Minister.