John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I, too, welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher. He indicated the Minister is unavoidably absent but there are at least three if not four Ministers of State in the Department of Education and Science. While I have no problem with the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, being here, it is disappointing on a night when both Adjournment matters relate to education that none of the Ministers of State from the Department of Education and Science can be here. That is surprising and disappointing and it is not the most suitable arrangement given the matters raised, but that is a matter that will have to be taken up in a different forum.

I rise to bring up another educational issue. This is another example of where a Department has let down a community, similar to the case outlined by Senator Buttimer. The issue I raise relates to secondary education in the town of New Ross and the surrounding hinterland of Wexford, Kilkenny and south County Carlow. I attended secondary school in New Ross, along with my four siblings, as do many people on the Kilkenny side of the bridge that joins Wexford and Kilkenny. There are five secondary schools in New Ross. When I left Good Counsel College in 1997 the process of discussion on amalgamation and consolidation for the future was already under way.

The McCarthy report was published five years ago and it outlined a blueprint for the future of second level education in the town of New Ross. However, that report has not been acted upon. The recommendations of the report were clear, namely, that there would be three secondary schools, one all-boys, one all-girls and one co-educational. Since the publication of the report there was a massive explosion in the population of the town of New Ross, as has happened in many areas across the country.

I read recently a surprising statistic in a national newspaper, that outside of the city of Dublin the district electoral division with the highest proportion of immigrants in the country is Rosbercon urban. This area is on the Kilkenny side of the bridge from New Ross and one of the existing secondary schools is located here. A significant case can be made for the provision of four schools as a possible solution to future needs in this area.

Despite the recommendations of the report and various meetings of school trustees in that five year period, not one iota of progress has been made. What is most disappointing is that as a result of the McCarthy report and the push by the Department of Education and Science to force the hand of the trustees and the schools in question to amalgamate, there has been a complete freeze on capital investment in the secondary schools in New Ross which is leading to a very unsatisfactory situation within those schools. Basic maintenance work has not been carried out because the schools are not funded by the Department.

Good Counsel College is only 20 years old but a problem recently developed in the art room where part of the floor collapsed. The Augustinians who still run the school had to pay for patching the floor out of their household fund. That is disgraceful. Something has to be done. I plead with the Department and the Minister for Education and Science in this regard. There are more than 2,000 second level students in New Ross, a large number in a town of approximately 7,000 or 8,000 people. A large hinterland surrounds the town. There are more than 2,100 students in second level education in the town of New Ross and these people are being disenfranchised and neglected because their school facilities have not been upgraded in the past five years. They are being placed at a severe disadvantage through no fault of their own by the efforts of the Department to bully the schools into amalgamation.

Everybody in the town and its schools accepts changes must be made and there is a strong case for amalgamation. Therefore let us make some progress on it. Second level education in New Ross and its hinterland has had five years of stagnation and limbo. I seek leadership from the Department on this issue. It cannot be allowed to drag on any longer. Students have entered and left second level education under this cloud of the McCarthy report and the lack of capital investment in the schools' infrastructure in New Ross and that is not satisfactory. I urge the Department to resolve that situation as soon as possible.