Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion and I congratulate the Independent Senators on tabling it. What is clear from comments from all Senators is that the secrecy and mystery around the school building programme must go. It causes endless upset to teachers, boards of management, parents and children.

We need more transparency and this motion says it all regarding the schools building programme. I hope the Department will take on board what it says. What is the problem with being open about the decision-making involved? It will help everyone and will take pressure off the Department and the Minister. If there was a tracking procedure, for example, whereby people could consult the Department via its website or by telephone and obtain proper information, it would ease the pressure on the Department in many ways. The lack of transparency, the secrecy and the lack of information means schools do not know where they are on the list or what the waiting time will be. This causes enormous frustration, disappointment and anger among parents and children.

There are a number of schools in my constituency which have been waiting for schools building projects to begin. Pupils from St. Brigid's school in Palmerstown visited this House approximately two weeks ago. They asked me when they would be moving into the prefabs so that their school could be refurbished. Those prefabs cost €10,000 per month to rent and are standing empty. They have been in place since September 2007 when pupils expected to move while the school was being refurbished. The Department of Education and Science has spent €80,000 already on rent for prefabs that are unused. They are under a one-year contract so they will cost a total of €120,000. That is wasteful and inefficient as well as being disappointing for everyone involved. The refurbishment of the school has been put on hold and no one knows what is going to happen to the prefabs. Will the contract be renewed for a further year? No one can find out what is going on. I cannot find out, either through Adjournment debates or parliamentary questions tabled by my colleagues, when the school will be provided with the money required for its refurbishment.

Gaelscoil na Camóige, a school in Clondalkin, is in a most appalling condition. The problems have existed since the school opened eight years ago, including holes in the floor. The conditions are dreadful for the children attending that school. A new gaelscoil complex was promised before the general election last year but there is no timeframe, transparency or clarity on when whatever band the school is in will mean delivery of a new school building.

The list goes on. Another school in my constituency, St. Andrew's, was told the Department of Education and Science is looking for a site for the school. To the best of my knowledge, the same reply has been given time and again with no sense of progress being made. No one knows when the school will get a site or funding to develop, even though the school has a long waiting list.

Where is the transparency? Why is it missing? Where is the accountability? How can one establish where schools lie in order of priority and the rationale behind their positions in the Department's priority list? That is what is needed and the motion before the House addresses all of those issues. I ask the Department and the Minister to take on board the contents of this motion and make the kinds of changes recommended therein.