Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Kitt for sharing time with me. I wholeheartedly support his proposal. I raised this issue approximately two years ago, and Senator Kitt shared time with me on that occasion too.

This time around, it is important to highlight the fact that, in previous years, when anything was attempted regarding an upgrade of the school at Cahergal, the expansion of the site was the stumbling block. On this occasion, the land is available, and it is of the utmost importance that the Department move quickly to take that on board, acquire the land and move on to the next stage. It will never happen unless additional land is bought for expansion.

The site, as Senator Kitt has said, is overcrowded, cluttered and dangerous because of the numbers of students, the criss-crossing between prefabs and the only open recreational area available to the pupils. The board of management, principal, staff and parents' groups have made a tremendous effort to move the matter on. On various occasions, they thought they were near to a solution and, on one occasion, thought they would move to a new greenfield site. However, the Department said the best strategy was to expand on site.

Now that the opportunity to do so has presented itself, it is of the utmost importance that the Department moves quickly, purchases the land and carries out the necessary expansion work to the school which is under tremendous pressure as the area is one of increasing population and pupil intake. That is likely to continue because of the expansion of Galway city into the area. It is a new growth centre if ever there was one, and there is a great need for school places. Many of the facilities that other schools have are denied the pupils of the area, such as computer rooms, general purpose rooms, and the other support mechanism spaces required in modern education. It is important that the Minister impresses on his colleague the importance of moving quickly to acquire the site.