Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, and thank the Senator for raising this issue.

Both the Minister and the Department are very much aware of the need to provide permanent accommodation for Gaelscoil Teach na Giúise, a school established to serve both a demographic and diversity need in the Firhouse area of Tallaght, County Dublin. I hope the Senator will take comfort from the fact that a building project for the school is on the Department's five-year construction plan, although the school is just completing its first year of operation. A building project for the school will proceed as soon as a suitable site has been procured. In this regard, the site acquisition process for the permanent location for the school is ongoing. Department officials are working very closely with officials from South Dublin County Council in identifying and acquiring a suitable site.

The Minister signed a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Education and Skills and the County and City Managers Association in 2012. This memorandum formalises the local authorities’ part in identifying and securing suitable sites for educational use and facilitates increased levels of co-operation between both parties. It is in this context that this work is progressing. As the process is ongoing and due to the commercial sensitivities associated with land acquisitions generally, it is not possible to provide further information at this time.

In the meantime, the school is temporarily located in the Firhouse Community Centre on Ballycullen Drive, Firhouse, as opposed to the Tymon Bawn Community Centre mentioned by the Senator. It will remain in this accommodation for the 2014-15 school year. The school will be a single-stream, eight-classroom school when fully developed. The school's current enrolment is six pupils and it has one teacher. When it started up in 2013, the entire top floor of the community centre, comprising a large room, used as a classroom for the six pupils, a boardroom, used as ancillary accommodation and office space for the teacher, a kitchen-staff room and male and female toilets, were made available for school use. The school also uses a large indoor sports hall and an outdoor play area.

The Department refurbished the premises to make it suitable for school use. The school advises it will have total enrolment of 21 pupils for the 2014-15 school year. This will attract a second teacher giving the school a pupil-teacher ratio of 10.5:1. Further enhancements are being made to the top floor and outdoor play space to facilitate the increased enrolment. The boardroom, which is adequate in size for the number of pupils that will occupy it, will be used as the second classroom. Another space, available to the school last year but which it did not use, is being converted into a principal's office and ancillary space.

While the school shared the boardroom and kitchen last year, it will have exclusive use of these facilities for the new school year. The school will continue to have priority access to the sports hall. The Department has worked and continues to work closely with the school's principal and the management of the community centre to ensure the school’s accommodation needs are met as best as is possible. Inevitably, some compromises are necessary when a school is using premises that are not purpose-built.

Gaelscoil Teach na Giuise can be assured that every effort is being made to provide it with adequate accommodation in its start-up years and to curtail its tenure in temporary accommodation by providing it with purpose-built accommodation as soon as a suitable site has been acquired. I am sorry I cannot give the Senator further information on the site.