Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and concur with his remark. The councillor is certainly working on the ground and knows the local issues, one of which is this national school which has sought very basic improvements to the standards of facilities and infrastructure for the past 20 years. To be honest, the board of management and staff may have sat back, waited and hoped that it would happen eventually but, 20 years later, their dissatisfaction, frustration and anger have become intolerable. The infrastructural deficits include the following: children falling on damp and slippery floors; teachers complaining of inadequate toilet facilities; the lack of a proper staff room; a small, poky cold toilet shared by eight adults; no space in the small, poky staff room; and little storage space. If there is supposed to be an emphasis on exercise and health, it is not there in this case.

I will not delay the Minister much further regarding this very simple issue. The staff and board of management of the school have been waiting too long. I know that this is not the Minister's brief, but I know that he will be conveying my concerns to the Minister for Education and Science. The procrastination at a departmental level is unbelievable. The matter has been passed from pillar to post. It has been promised and approved. The extension has had planning permission for the past three years, but now the school has been asked to review the planning application and make changes. Funding was approved and granted in 1999, but the school is still on the bottom rung of the ladder.

As I said, the school is in a small, rural area in north Inishowen. The people who live there believe in rural communities and the rural way of life. It is possible that they do not shout loudly enough, and perhaps the matter should be highlighted here. I know of many schools that have waited three, four, five or six years, but this school has waited 20 years. For justice to be served, the matter must be addressed. The issue that always crops up is the Department of Education and Science. The waiting game whereby building programmes are put on the long finger must be seriously addressed.