Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I was hoping the Minister for Education would be able to be here, but I know he has been detained for the sake of the Magdalen apology in the Dáil.

The story I will bring to the attention of the Minister of State is one I expect he will hear a lot more about and I believe it is a national story. It is a national disgrace to leave the children and the teachers of Gaelscoil de hÍde in Oranmore in their school in its current condition. I make the case that the building project for Gaelscoil de hÍde, a school on the capital building programme for 2015-16, should be expedited and brought forward. The school is experiencing chronic over-crowding and this poses serious risks to children in terms of their education and health, and they are losing class and teaching time.

The demographics of the school are as follows. There are 292 children and 11 teachers on a site of less than half an acre. Most of us have half an acre of a site, but there are almost 300 children and teachers on this particular half an acre. When the children want to go to the toilet, they must put on their caps and coats. There is no circulation space or hallways in the school. These children are losing out in every way. The risks are increasing for the school and the Department and next September, the school is due to admit another 81 children. No gaelscoil spaces exist in the locality for some and it is unlikely there will be space for any new families as there is no other gaelscoil capacity in the local area.

There is no room for site expansion after 2014, which is the reason I make the case the building project for this school should be brought forward on the capital programme for 2013-14. At the latest, building should begin on the project in January 2014, or otherwise September 2014 when the rental of another interim site will be required. That rental will be a waste of public moneys and is a strong reason to bring forward the works for this school on the capital programme. The risk is that as well as the current ¤200,000 rent per annum, a unnecessary extra ¤1.2 million will probably have to be spent or "wasted" on a new temporary site in 2014. In times of austerity, that is a big waste of money. It would be unwise to pay out this money and far better to spend it on the new school, which I stress is on the current capital programme. All I am asking is that the project be brought forward.

The Minister of State will appreciate that the time spent in school is a serious concern for the infant year in education. These children are losing two and a half hours per week or half an hour a day. This is against Department of Education and Skills guidelines. Why is this happening? They are getting full tuition time, but their yard breaks are curtailed. Infants now get only ten minutes per day instead of 40 minutes per day. Breaks are staggered for all other pupils, but that does not allow for the full time for infant breaks. Therefore, these children lose two and a half hours per week of play. We all know play is extremely important for learning, for the development of the brain, for socialisation and for the prevention of obesity. These children are being deprived in this regard.

I checked the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and can verify that play has been enshrined as a childhood right within it since 1989. Chronic play deprivation, particularly during the period between birth and seven years, has been linked to impaired brain development, lack of social skills, depression and aggression. Having been an infant teacher myself, I assure the Minister of State that aggression is a strong likelihood when children do not get enough time at play and enough fresh air. The risk is that school play time will continue to be denied to these children.

The current school is on a half acre site, with only 29% of recommended classroom and circulation space. Therefore, pupils and teachers suffer a loss of up to 70% of space. Four pupils have serious, unusual medical conditions and the school has no medical room to act as a holding centre for these pupils. There is no car-parking space on site and the road outside the school is a narrow country road. There are severe health and safety risks and one can only imagine what would happen if, God forbid, there was an outbreak of meningitis. It would run through the school because of the cramped physical conditions, with less than 70% of the recommended space. On public health grounds, I would be fearful of an epidemic in the school.

I have not touched on the issue of traffic on the narrow, bog road on which the gaelscoil is situated. I know the Minister wanted to hear this motion but is unable to be here. I urge him to look seriously at expediting the case of Gaelscoil de hÍde. We now have the signed agreement on the site and have outline planning permission for the new school as of yesterday. I urge the Minister to bring the project for the school forward from the 2015-16 programme and start it in January 2014 at the latest, so that the children can move into their new school in September 2014, saving the State over ¤1 million. This will improve the quality of education for the children, save gaelscoil education for local children and provide a healthier and safer place for them. I have not even touched on the risks to the teachers.