Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Daly for sharing his time with me and for showing interest in this project. It is in the east of the county, where I am the only Oireachtas Member. I thank Senator Daly for his attendance at the meeting last week and for his assistance in this regard. I wish to be associated with the congratulations to the Minister. It is great to see her in the House as Minister for Education and Science. She has been with us several times and has shown great respect to the Seanad, for which we are thankful.

As Senator Daly outlined, there is a difficulty with Clonlara national school, particularly in regard to the extension and the fact that a number of classes are being taught in the PE hall, where conditions are cramped, there is no natural light and the situation is unsuitable from a health and safety perspective. Issues arise regarding storage areas and the fact that teachers must disrupt classes to get sports equipment for external play areas. However, the school does a good job in difficult circumstances and tribute should be paid to the principal, Mr. P. J. Fitzpatrick, for his work.

Another health and safety issue concerns the boiler. However, the school authorities are slow to replace it because when the extension is built a larger boiler will be needed and will form part of the overall work. Effectively, the sooner they can go ahead with the extension the sooner they can overcome all the problems that exist. I again thank the Minister and hope she will look with favour on this school when making announcements regarding schools building projects.