Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I compliment Senator Cecilia Keaveney on an excellent contribution. The Minister's reply was also very interesting.

Baylin national school, Athlone, currently has 127 pupils. In September 2009, the number will increase to 131. Half of the pupils, 63, will be in junior and senior infants and first class. The school building is 60 years old; it was built in 1949. It is badly in need of an extension to cater for the growing number of students. The extension the school has applied for will provide two new classrooms, a general purpose room, a utility storage area, a general office and a multipurpose room. There is an urgent need for this extension. The existing two classrooms are severely substandard in terms of size, measuring 36.6 sq. m. This falls far short of the Department's guidelines. It is impossible for a teacher to teach his or her class properly in so little space.

As a result of the current budgetary constraints, class sizes are increasing. It is enraging that the children in Baylin national school must spend their days in under-resourced and overcrowded classrooms. The Department's guidelines state that schools with more than a certain number of children must have a general purpose room and proper toilet facilities. Baylin national school does not have these facilities. There is no general purpose room and no adequate indoor space for indoor activities. Now more than ever there is a need for proper sporting and exercise facilities for school children, given their unhealthy lifestyles.

The state of our national schools is an appalling indictment. In the past ten years, when there was so much money and growth in the country, it is a shame these basic and necessary facilities, which are recommended by the Department, were not provided at Baylin national school. The guidelines provide that a school should have a multipurpose room of 200 sq. m. The school does not have a multipurpose room for learning support, medical inspections, visiting psychologists, music lessons and so forth. This means the learning support teacher must constantly move the classes for these vulnerable children to temporary places. That is unacceptable. It can have a severe impact on children who are already a little embarrassed and, perhaps, vulnerable because they have this little inadequacy. There should be a secure, comfortable environment for them.

The Minister of State is probably more aware of the need for these facilities than I am. The school does not even have an office. I hope he can give me a favourable reply. I wrote to the Minister for Education and Science at the end of May seeking a meeting on this matter and he replied last week to the effect that he will contact me in due course. Perhaps the Minister of State will shed light on when I or the school's representatives might be able to meet him.