Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for remaining to take my matter on the Adjournment. Recently the principal of St. Brigid's national school in Castleknock invited all the public representatives to meet with him and do a tour of the school. This school, which was built in 1971 as an eight teacher school, has now grown to a 35 teacher school. While it received summer work grants for 2004 and 2005, this represents a mere attempt to address some refurbishment. The school is in need of much more work.

The school architect, Mr. Roger Hofler, expressed his concerns about some issues. These concerns are shared by the health and safety officer and the school insurers, Alliance. The general purpose room, which was built many years ago, is now totally unsuitable for the number of children in the school. Furthermore, in terms of today's standards, it is not suited to the types of PE activities in which children participate. It is in a very bad state. Teachers in the school are most unhappy and concerned about allowing children to use it with the result that PE is not undertaken there.

Four teachers have no classroom facilities. A teacher of international pupils currently teaches three or four children in what was originally a broom cupboard. I saw this room while accompanied by the Minister of State at the Department, Deputy Brian Lenihan. The school has a large number of international children who need special attention. One resource teacher teaches in a converted toilet. Four resource or learning support teachers share two remedial rooms. We saw these rooms and noted they are separated by a partition. The teachers are trying to teach children who need special attention but the set-up in which they are being taught is not conducive to learning.

The school needs and hopes to acquire two further resource teachers but it has no accommodation to offer them. The school also needs special security, which is difficult to provide in the present circumstances. The school has no storage facilities because the storage rooms are now being used for teaching. It has no storage facilities for PE equipment, video and audio equipment or classroom resources. All equipment of this kind is now being stored in corridors. The health and safety officer stated this is unacceptable.

The school staffroom was built for eight teachers but must now cater for 35. The school's accommodation is no more suitable for teachers than it is for children. There is no multipurpose room or place to facilitate parent-teacher meetings, visiting dentists, doctors or psychologists.

The school is located in a developing area. Approximately 3,500 thousand houses are to be built in the area, some of which are under construction. The school has received 172 applications for enrolment for September 2005 but there are only 90 places on offer.

The number of pupils in the classrooms is far too high. This is a serious issue in all schools throughout the country. Teachers at the school in question are up in arms about class sizes, and this can be said for all other primary schools in the area. All the principals attended a meeting in this regard and all had the same difficulty. The problem needs to be addressed.

A more urgent problem arose in recent weeks regarding health and safety in the school. Mortar is falling off the walls and this is a danger to children playing nearby and to passers by. The school is in need of major refurbishment. Senator Morrissey raised this issue on behalf of the school last week and the Department responded as follows:

Last year, the Department of Education and Science received an application from the school authorities of St. Brigid's for the provision of a general purpose room, resource rooms, a multipurpose room and storage space. This application was assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large scale building projects, which were revised following consultation with the education partners. The project will be considered in the context of the school building and modernisation programme 2005-09.

This reply is incorrect because the school submitted an application initially in 2001. It is now 2005 and no significant moneys have been forthcoming to address the health and safety issues at the school. I hope the Minister will be able to give a more positive response today to address these issues. They need to be addressed quickly before an accident happens. We need to take seriously the accommodation needs of both teachers and pupils in 2005. It is unacceptable that they should have to teach and be taught in such conditions. I look forward to the Minister's response.