Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This motion relates to Scoil Mhuire in Stranorlar. I accept that the Minister of State, Deputy Ann Phelan, does not have responsibility for education matters and that it is unfortunate that the Minister for Education and Skills is not present, but I also accept that she may have other commitments. Nonetheless, I want to outline the difficult and serious situation at Scoil Mhuire in Stranorlar where there are 452 pupils enrolled for the 2015-16 school year. The principal, Mr. Keating, and his staff have been doing a tremendous job under the most extreme of difficult circumstances. The pupils are in a school which is not fit for purpose in this day and age. Education is so important to the future of young people that the facilities in which they are educated also play an important and fundamental role in how they are educated.

The increased pupil numbers in the school have been provided for the Department of Education and Skills. In the school year 2014-15 there were 57 new pupils in junior infants. This year the number has increased to 70. Of the 452 pupils in the school, 170 are being taught in prefabricated buildings. That is unacceptable in this day and age. I have visited the school on several occasions, as have many of my Oireachtas colleagues from County Donegal who have been raising the issue in the other House. It is urgent. Only four of the 12 permanent classrooms in the school have a toilet or running water. That is not acceptable. This is one of the largest primary schools in County Donegal. There are other issues relating to traffic and health and safety, particularly when there is traffic in the morning and the evening. The entrance to the school is located within the grounds of a church car park. At busy times such as funerals, weddings and when people are attending mass, it is very difficult to access the school. This creates major dangers for the kids from junior infants to sixth class.

I know that the Government is contemplating a new school capital building programme. It is imperative that this project be put on the shelf and included in that programme. The school is at stage 2a, draft report stage. A site has been identified and Donegal County Council has granted planning permission for a site adjacent to the new state-of-the-art Finn Valley sports complex. It is ideal from the point of view of child welfare, safety, education and the provision of extra-curricular activities in the Finn Valley sports complex.

The project was going to be put out to tender before the Minister’s predecessor, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, took office. Unfortunately, it was moved out of the capital building programme, but it needs to be put back in forthwith. It is shovel-ready in every sense of the word. All that is required is ministerial and political approval to allow it to proceed. Politics should not come into it because this is a child welfare and educational development issue. I hope that, on the grounds of the merits I have outlined and the board of management has provided for the Department, the project will see the light of day and be allowed to proceed to building and tender stage early in 2016.