Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State is welcome and I thank him for attending to take what is my first Adjournment motion in the Seanad. I will declare an interest, as St. Sylvester's infant school in Malahide was my first school. I attended it when I was a kid and have had a long association with it. When I started junior infants in 1978, it was in a prefab. The former Government must take responsibility for the fact that 50% of the school's pupils are still being taught in prefabricated buildings.

While I tabled this motion to be updated on the extension's progress, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, received a letter a number of days ago. If I may, I will relate the relevant points. On 16 June, a letter, entitled "The health and safety dangers of our prefabs", was written. A further letter, dated 10 July, told of how a professional investigation had resulted in one of the school's prefabs, room 15, being condemned with immediate closure. The engineering report confirmed that, as suspected, the flooring had disintegrated. The report was attached to the documentation. It recommended that all entrances and lobbies be replaced immediately to maintain safe access and egress to classrooms.

Indications are that the failures are systemic. In the prefabs, the engineers have recommended that all toilets should not be used until such time as all floors are replaced, leaving 150 infants without toilets. The chair of the board of management states that this is a matter of extreme urgency, as 150 infants are due to return to school on Wednesday, 31 August. Under the present circumstances, the school cannot permit them safe access to the prefabs.

The issue of the extension is twofold and the Minister of State will encounter similar matters in his role. I lobbied against the purchase of the prefabs, but the Department went against the recommendations of the school's board of management. Like other public representatives, I have letters on file. The prefabs are in bits, but they are now the responsibility of the board because the Department went ahead and purchased them. The board has no money to carry out the necessary work. NTW is the consultant engineering company. Ironically, the Department purchased the prefabs under the better value for money scheme.

Will funding be provided to the school to replace or make good the prefabs? It is one of the country's few infant schools. Some 150 pupils will not be able to go to school on 31 August. Does the Minister of State have an update?