Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

I wish to support the case made by Senator Ó Clochartaigh and I thank him for sharing his time with me. St. Catherine's national school in Aughrim has been let down and disappointed over many years. There was an expectation prior to the general election before last that a new school was to be built. I visited the school on a number of occasions and I saw the very cramped and difficult accommodation in which teachers were operating. The school is not fit for purpose as it stands. If a new school is not to be built, then significant renovation work is required. The land and the space is available for such works. In this day and age it is incumbent on the Department of Education and Skills to consider this school's particular case because many schools in the locality were in a much better condition than St. Catherine's in Aughrim but they seem to have jumped the queue over the years. In light of the recent inspection I ask the Department to consider the situation at St. Catherine's.