Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Bruton, for coming to the House to deal with this important issue.

Doolin national school has 91 students. This is set to increase to 95 next September but I suspect it will be even more. The school has a great principal and team of teachers. I have always been impressed by the school's ethos and the staff's dedication to learning. The principal is out on her own in her dedication to her students and the work she does to develop an interest in learning among them. The school has applied for an additional classroom. This application is not just reasonable and important, but essential and critical. One class with 25 students is in a classroom designed for between 12 and 15 students. This is unacceptable and is a health and safety issue, as well as being unfair to the students and the teachers.

The school has submitted two applications to the Department for funding for an additional classroom.Both applications were submitted in 2017, one in the early part of the year and the other in the latter. I have been making representations relentlessly to the Department for some time on the issue. When we made representations last October, we received an acknowledgement. However, on 8 December we received a letter from the Department stating it had no application on file. Clearly, the information that had come from it was not correct because there was an application on file.

A contract has been signed for a direct provision centre in Lisdoonvarna which is about three or four miles from Doolin national school. I have no doubt that some of the children who will live in the centre will be seeking educational advancement in the school. As September is only a number of months away, the classroom must be built during the summer. Funding must be sanctioned as a top priority based not just on all of the information I have given to date. I have also corresponded with the Department on the critical need for the project which has been amplified even more by the fact that the direct provision centre will be opened in Lisdoonvarna and that Doolin national school may be called upon to assist in meeting the educational needs of the young people who will stay at the centre. I am looking for a commitment from the Minister that the funding required will be provided as a matter of urgency in order that the tender documents can be prepared and the work done during the two-month summer holidays period to enable the classroom to be ready by September.