John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister. I am rasing the issue of St. Mary's Church of Ireland national school in Bagnelstown County Carlow. I have raised a number of school issues in the last months. It is a sign of the time. St. Mary's is a four teacher school which caters for approximately 85 pupils. The school has a very large catchment area. The existing school building has two classrooms. It was hoped that a new four classroom school would be built under the new school building programme. The Church of Ireland community is providing a site outside Bagenalstown for the new school and there is no additional cost in that regard for the Department. The existing school premises has two classrooms and two prefabs, one provided by the Department and the other by the parents council of St. Mary's Church of Ireland national school.

Playing facilities for the students are limited. There is a gravelled area adjacent to the Church of Ireland which doubles as a playground. There is a continuous problem with vandalism of the school facility. It is hoped this will not be such a difficulty on the new site, which is just outside the town. The school authorities have already raised the relevant amount of matching funding for the school development. A considerable amount has been raised and they are now awaiting the Department's sanction to build the new school.

The authorities were told a short time ago that the school was one of ten pilot schemes. Perhaps the Minister would elaborate on that. Planning for the new school is pending but there is a sense a desperation within the board of management and the community that they will be left to one side and forgotten in the current post-Celtic tiger era. I ask the Minister to reassure them that the new school will be built as soon as possible and that the amount of work and effort the community has put into raising the considerable funding will not be in vain. The fact that the community is providing the site for the new school, which is a considerable benefit to the Department, should be taken into account.

The school authorities were guaranteed that the new school would be built in 2006, when the full grant was approved. However, no commencement date was given. The community has been waiting anxiously for the past two years for a firm commitment from the Government that the funding will be released for the new school building. I hope the Minister can give me positive news in that regard.