Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I wish to raise the situation faced by St. Sheelan's College of Further Education in Templemore, where I recently attended a meeting of Oireachtas Members from the constituency with the principal, Mr. Dan Condron.

St. Sheelan's is a college of further education, formerly a secondary school, in Templemore and in June 2000 the Department of Education and Science initiated a reorganisation of educational services in the area, deciding that all second level education would take place in Our Lady's Secondary School and that St. Sheelan's College would be developed as a centre for further education.

The college has taken the commitment to provide a centre for further education seriously but that commitment is not being matched by the Department. The communications between the VEC in north Tipperary and the Department on St. Sheelan's College read like something from Kafka. The college would contact the planning unit about an issue and the planning unit would inform it that it was a matter for the building unit. When it then contacted the building unit, it would tell the college it was a matter for the planning unit. The further education section would then state that it could not do anything until it had a schedule of accommodation. It is an extraordinary situation where the college is being blocked by a bureaucratic mess in the Department, with a complete lack of co-ordination between its sections.

By any standard, it is a disgrace that a public facility such as St. Sheelan's College would be treated with such disregard. If this does not improve, I will take the matter further. The Department has treated St. Sheelan's in a disgraceful matter and has acted in a way that is far less than what the Department is publicly committed to. This falls far short of what any Department should be doing.

Now there is a proposal for a refurbishment scheme for a 75 pupil college but at present there are more than 200 pupils on campus. It is a highly successful college of further education and has taken on courses in complementary, beauty and alternative therapies that are so popular there are waiting lists for entry. These are high-quality courses and some of my acquaintances who do them speak highly of them.

It is clear, therefore, that St. Sheelan's College meets the mandate given to it by the Department and is fulfilling the needs of PLC students and the student population in north Tipperary. Despite this, the Department is not providing any support and the college's development has been blocked for several years due to a cat and mouse game, with the Department unwilling to indicate the funding position for a college with more than 200 students. A building programme and schedule are needed, as is a co-ordinated, accountable response from the Department on this matter. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply. If I am not satisfied that progress will be made in the near future, I will continue to pursue the matter.