Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming here today to deal with this matter, which relates to Scoil Cholmcille on Blarney Street in Cork. From 1 September, the school will have 216 students.If the number of students increases to 220 the school will be entitled to an additional teacher.

Scoil Cholmcille currently has a difficulty due to changing demographics. A school was first built on the site in 1840 and a new school was built a number of years ago. The number of young people living in the area has increased so the school has grown at a very fast pace. I was invited to visit the school to see the conditions for myself. When I visited a few weeks ago I saw that one room that had previously been used as toilets had been converted into a classroom. The school is under severe pressure in terms of space. Engineers have advised the school that three classrooms could easily be built adjacent to the existing structure thus accommodating the current needs of the school. I understand that the school is not on the radar of the Department in terms of being granted consent to apply for planning. The school has drawn up initial plans and submitted them to the Department. Unfortunately, the school has not been given the go ahead to go through the planning process.

The school has another concern. A list of new schools has recently been announced and it is proposed to build an eight-classroom school in the Gurranabraher area of Cork city. I do not think a site has been identified. There would be a natural feed in from south of the Gurranabraher area into Scoil Cholmcille on Blarney Street. The Department has identified that the demographic has changed. It has acknowledged that there has been an increase in the young population or an increase in the number of people who will require primary school placements. Scoil Cholmcille feels that it will be unable to provide enough accommodation and, as a consequence, is under extreme pressure. I would like the Department to indicate that Scoil Cholmcille can move to the next stage and apply for planning.