Shane Ross (Independent)

My item concerns the need for the Minister for Education and Science to advance the planning process for Howth Road national school to development stage. This is a bad case of a delay in the development of a school on the north side of Dublin which has been inexplicably caught up in bureaucracy and difficulties. It has caused immense frustration to the pupils, parents, board of management, teachers and everybody else there. A simple move in the Department might hasten the school's development.

This is an inclusive Presbyterian school and it seeks rapid development into one which can compete and appear as physically competent and modern as its colleagues. The school has received only one injection of €50,000 from the Department of Education and Science since 1980. It has been on the same premises, with the same buildings since the 1970s. In 2002 the board of management, in conjunction with the parents and the Presbyterian Association, decided to invest in the fabric of the school as there was a crying need for this and the State was not providing the money. This produced classroom and office space, general redecoration and a special needs room. The full cost was €80,000 of which the Department provided €50,000, with the school and parents raising the balance, to build a prefab which is not the ideal accommodation for schoolchildren.

The school has been designated as needing a new building. It has reached stage 3 in this process but is frustrated because the Department appears to have put it on hold. It had expected to have reached stage 5 a long time ago which would mean it could go ahead as soon as possible with State planning approval and funding. The school feels that it has been on hold for ten years, although the Department assured it that the process would be shorter. It is particularly important not to delay schools of this type for so long. A pupil might be educated in a prefab for most of his or her school life. Pupils should have a modern, well-equipped school for part, if not all, of their education. I do not see any sense of urgency about this school in the Department.

In March 2007 an architect visited the school and passed the plans but in the sort of hiccup that is typical of the public service, the architect left his position. A new architect was sent out to the school and the process started again. This architect halted the past plans, then gave them the go-ahead last November but it seemed unnecessary to many of those involved to have two architects approve the work.

Stage 4 is planning, Stage 5 is tendering. I plead with the Minister of State to assure me that the school has not been relegated to the end of the list and to convey to the Minister the urgency of this case and the need to expedite it immediately.