Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak about the plight of the parents, teachers and pupils of Rathcormac national school in County Cork. The need for a new school building has been at the top of the agenda for the local community in Rathcormac for many years. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, for coming to the House. I will give him some background information. A new school was built in the parish of Rathcormac in 1948 to cater for the children of what was then a small community in north-east Cork. Times have changed since then, as one would expect. The population of the village and parish of Rathcormac has increased from a few hundred to over 2,000 as a result of planning and zoning decisions taken by Cork County Council over the past decade or so. Rathcormac national school, which has 210 pupils, is based in a building that was designed for a far smaller number. The school uses nine prefabs. I understand it is proposed that a tenth prefab will come on stream in the near future. The annual cost of the prefabs is almost €100,000 - surely there is a moral in that. The local community in Rathcormac has been seeking a new school in a serious fashion for more than a decade. No progress has been made with the school building even though the Department of Education and Science is paying almost €100,000 per annum to rent prefabs. The Department agrees that a new building is needed. A site has been found and paid for, but it remains idle. I suggest that the Department should take every possible step to make progress with this project and thereby provide the community with the new school it so badly needs. From a planning perspective, the Department of Education and Science must take note of population trends. When development in a village that previously consisted of a main street, two local authority estates and one small private estate explodes to the level of having 800 or 900 houses, we must recognise the need for a response from the perspective of the Department of Education and Science. The key focus must be the high rent paid annually for prefabs, particularly during the past decade. At the time of the 1997 general election the provision of a new school for Rathcormac was at the top of the agenda in the parish. Strong commitments to provide it were made at the time. Promises were made again in advance of the 2002 and 2007 general elections. The community is anxious, disappointed and angry that no real progress has been made. I accept a site has been purchased but that makes it even more unbelievable that it has not been possible to move this project to the next phase.

I am speaking on behalf of the community of Rathcormac, including the more than 200 pupils in the school, the teachers, parents and future parents and pupils, in pointing out that it is time to move on from the 1948 school building, to build on the site acquired, to end the waste of money on rented prefabs and to provide a school that is fit for the Rathcormac community in the years ahead.

I am sure the Minister of State has driven through the village, which is on the road from Fermoy to Cork. It is a changed village having regard to the number of houses that have recently been built there. At a minimum a new school is required for the community. We discussed rural and community development some time ago in this House. School provision is at the core of such development. The people of Rathcormac should not only demand but expect their school to be provided in the very near future. I look forward to the Minister of State's response and I appeal him to ensure that this urgently needed development is progressed at the earliest possible stage.