Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank Senator O'Toole for tabling this motion and support the proposals he has made. Like Senator Norris, I too have been in touch with individual cases in this regard. Some time ago the principal of a school in my parish, Eglish national school in Ahascragh, County Galway, wrote to me. Although the principal provided an excellent summary of the situation in the school, it had to be seen to be believed. I spent some time in the school and thought I would see the problems the principal had outlined in her letter in 20 minutes, but it took an hour or more to view the various problems. The problems are typical. The school has approximately 48 pupils, has no central heating and is very draughty, which gives rise to a terrible waste of money because a significant proportion of the capitation is spent on ESB payments. The principal had described in her letter the mould and damp throughout the school and had mentioned that a family of snails had taken up permanent residence on the ceiling of one of the classrooms. She had not exaggerated, because I met that family subsequently during my visit.

In fairness to the Department, the principal's letter was given a sympathetic response and she has been in touch with the Department's planning and modernisation section. However, an interesting point to consider is whether there is flexibility in the system. Senator O'Toole and others have spoken eloquently about the importance of having a transparent system where people will know exactly what stage their school is at. The Department gave approval to Eglish national school for a devolved grant to build prefabs on the footprint of the school and it hopes to get a more permanent facility, but when it sent its plans to the prefab manufacturers it was offered another option and told it could have a more permanent modular school building, to the same specification, for a relatively small extra cost. In such a case, does the Department have the flexibility to choose the good economic option and allow what is needed?