Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Shane McEntee, to the House.

The matter I wish to raise concerns the need for the Minister for Education and Skills to review the band rating for the proposed new accommodation for Scoil Mhuire primary school, Clarinbridge, County Galway, consistent with prior agreement given in 2007.

Five of the local primary schools were classified at the time as being at the same stage. These other primary schools have all advanced, but this school has not, which has caused much grief for the principal, board of management, parents and children.

To provide the background for the Minister of State, Scoil Mhuire is a ten-classroom school catering for 272 children in the Clarinbridge area. It has six portakabins on site, some of which are 11 years old. During the summer the porch fell off two of them, while the floor fell out of one of them. They are deteriorating by the day, as is apparent from the description of recent damage. In addition, there are five internal classrooms which date back to 1959. They are mostly small without en suite toilet facilities. They are becoming unsuitable for the delivery of the revised curriculum, given the need for space for active teaching methods, as is acknowledged in the whole school evaluation that took place last January. The main recommendation made in the report by the inspectors which I have to hand concerned the need for permission for a new school to be granted. No recommendation was made on curricula, methodology and parental involvement, other than on the need for a new school.

The school first lodged an application for new accommodation in 2001. Following various surveys and communication with the Department, a new school building was approved five years ago in April 2007, prior to the election. A meeting was called at the time which was also attended by representatives of the other five local primary schools. However, the project for Clarinbridge national school did not proceed to architectural planning, unlike the projects for the five neighbouring schools in similar circumstances. The school has been informed since that it remains on the band rating of 2.1. It is a source of grievance to the school that the other schools that were at the same stage at the time - I have the names and can give them to the Minister of State - have all moved to the band rating of 1.1.

Those involved in Scoil Mhuire are magnanimous and reasonable. They do not expect to be included in the current capital programme, although obviously everyone would like to be, as they understand the financial constraints within which we operate. However, come 2016, when the current approved capital programme runs out, they want to be included in the next programme. To be sure of this the school needs to have a band rating of 1.1. They feel aggrieved and the core issue is fairness. They have put the question many times in the past five years as to why the other schools, some of which have less need, that were on the same band level in 2007 have moved to the band rating of 1.1 and Scoil Mhuire has not.

I do not yet know what the response of the Minister of State will be, but I put the question formally a year ago to Seán Ó Foghlú before he became the new Secretary General in the Department. The school has put the question many times and been dissatisfied on each occasion with the response. I urge the Minister of State to advise me on how I should proceed if the school is not satisfied with today's response. Perhaps we might arrange a special meeting to ensure the matter is resolved.

The whole school evaluation report, dated January 2012, recommended that the board pursue with all vigour the further upgrading of accommodation facilities. In particular, it recommended that the board review as a matter of urgency the accommodation arrangements for pupils with special educational needs. Every time the principal, Mr. Holian, goes to the Department to speak about the deteriorating state of the prefabs the Department indicates it will replace through the emergency grants scheme any purchased portakabin that falls apart and that it will continue to fund the rented portakabins, in addition to new ones to meet special needs. The principal wants to know whether anyone in the Department recognises the incredible waste such a policy yields in a poor, temporary and unhealthy standard of classroom for pupils and staff on a daily basis. He believes it is time to stop and rethink the approach. In fairness to the Minister for Education and Skills, he has started a policy of replacing single prefabs with a permanent building. However, a school such as Scoil Mhuire that has five to six prefabs seems to be left in the lurch. The core issue is the band rating and how we can advance it in order that the school will be ready in 2016 and 2017. I look forward to the response of the Minister of State.