Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

Perhaps I had a simultaneous lapse.

Will the Minister of State outline the funding and resources which will be provided to make Cregmore national school, Cregmore, County Galway, a safer location following the horrific accident that occurred there three weeks ago when an articulated truck ploughed through the perimeter wall of the school as the pupils were leaving? I saw the closed circuit camera footage of the incident and it was unbelievable. The driver of the articulated truck lost control because another car went through the crossroads and the truck tore into 11 vehicles as the children were leaving school. A two year old child was strapped into one vehicle which was sent through the fields. It is a miracle that the child is okay. Simultaneously, 50 infants were being released from the school. Only for the quick thinking and action of parents and teachers, there could have been carnage.

The difficulty is that the school is located at a crossroads. There were two other accidents prior to this in which vehicles came through the perimeter wall, but because there was no demolition of vehicles they remained under the radar. Now it is a very serious situation.

The second part of my question is this. On the night of the accident, because it made the "Six One News", the office of the Tánaiste and Minister, Deputy Coughlan, telephoned the principal to say the Department would do whatever was needed, and I am about to tell the Minister of State what is needed.

I spoke today to the principal of the school, Mr. Joe Kennelly, with whom I spent an hour and a half approximately two weeks ago looking at the CCTV footage. He has moved very quickly on this, further to the call from the Minister's office.

As it happens, a planning application was submitted to build a new school gym and sports hall. After getting health and safety advice and expertise, the school has been told that the teachers' cars need to be taken away from the drop-off area where parents would normally pick up their children because that is accounting for up to 24 spaces. Moving the teachers' cars away from that location will enable traffic to flow more freely. Therefore, the school has been asked to move the hall back, which means it needs to purchase more land, and there is the building of two classrooms, a new percolation area and a new car park for the teachers' cars, including the realignment of walls. The total bill will come to €152,000 to make this a safe location.

That application was sent by Swiftpost to the Department of Education and Skills in Tullamore on Monday last and I hope the Minister of State has up-to-date news for me. Matters move quickly in the Department.

There is a very active parents' association and board of management in the school. If any of our children were in that school, we would want action taken. This is the third time there has been an accident at the location. There are obvious engineering difficulties. Galway County Council has moved to rebuild the wall, re-lay the tarmac and make it look like there was not an accident, but that is not a sustainable solution. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's reply.