Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. The Holy Angels Day Care Centre was opened in Carlow in 1978 in the basement of Carlow's old district hospital by a Presentation nun, Sister Columba. She was given a cheque then for £100 by the South Eastern Health Board and, with the names of five children with special needs from the local area, Holy Angels was set up to provide a day care service for children with special needs of preschool age.

In 1983, the present centre at Strawhall was purchased at a price of £52,000 and prefabs were put on the site to accommodate the children. In 2005, a needs assessment was carried out and the school was told that the current site would not allow for expansion due to the amount of children it looked after. In 2007, Holy Angels received a donation of a site from a private individual. Following that, the HSE assigned a design team to draw up plans.

In 2011, the HSE told Holy Angels the project would go to tender. In 2012, the HSE advised Holy Angels that in order for the work to commence, the HSE had to own the site. In February 2015, a delegation from Holy Angels met with the then Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in Carlow. The Minister said that he could not believe that the HSE needed to own the site.

There are currently 35 children in Holy Angels ranging in age from 18 months up to six years with a waiting list of over 20. Holy Angels is waiting 11 years for the capital funding for its new school. It has been overlooked for years and is at a stage where it cannot expand or take in children who need to attend the school. It has gone from the basement of an old hospital to prefabs and is still in prefabs 39 years on. This is 2017 and we have children with special needs in prefabs. These are the most vulnerable children in our society who have been forgotten. This is unacceptable. Holy Angels has a great manager and staff with a great fundraising committee who have been fundraising in order to help with the building of the new school which will cost approximately €400,000.

I joined the board last year and I see the great work that is being done on the board and the great work that the school does. The current situation is unacceptable. After 11 years there is need for the capital funding that was already committed as the prefabs are no longer suitable. I appeal to the Minister to give us the funding after 39 years. Last year I tabled a Commencement matter for the Minister, Deputy Harris, and he came to Carlow. Urgent work needed to be done. The roof was leaking, the doors needed to be repaired and the floorboards needed to be replaced. He gave us €150,000 about eight months ago. However, that was short term. It is not acceptable now and it is not going to last. The prefabs are not going to hold for much longer. We have a massive waiting list in Holy Angels. We need the capital funding and we need to provide the preschool for these special needs children that are 39 years waiting for their school. I thank the Minister of State.