Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, who was present on the last occasion I raised a matter on the Adjournment. I achieved some success on that occasion and I thank him. I hope he will be able to deliver for me again on this occasion.

I seek a guarantee from the Minister of State that the school at Castaheany will be built and ready to accept pupils in September 2004. The people of Little Pace Paddocks were extremely disappointed that the school was not included in this year's building list. The people of the area have worked hard to get the school built. They live in a new area which has insufficient facilities to cater for their needs. These people have had to fight tooth and nail to get a temporary structure in place, but they fear it will become a permanent prefabricated school. That is not good enough for a growing area such as that to which I refer.

The school recently received new prefabricated classrooms which will be adequate until September 2004, after which time they will need three more classrooms. Each year there has been a huge increase in the numbers enrolling in the school. By 2004, they will need 14 classrooms and, by 2005, they will need 17 classrooms. It is essential that the Mary Mother of Hope national school in Little Pace Paddocks is given the necessary funding to start construction in March 2004. As I said, the people are disappointed that it will not begin in March of this year.

I ask that this school is made a priority because at present children are being housed in cramped conditions and they have no PE hall. There is no community centre in the area either. Such a centre will only be constructed when the school is built because a joint effort is being made by the Department of Education and Science and the local authority to provide it. In a very innovative development, the PE hall will also serve as a community centre. The school will not close down at 3 p.m., but will be available to the community. I hope the Minister of State will give me good news and will say the school will be ready and open by 2004.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Terry for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The Department's current position regarding the allocation of funding for school projects was outlined by the Minister some time ago and is available on the Department's website. In addition, the capital programme has been published. Full details regarding individual projects, including schools being provided with temporary accommodation, are available on the website. I accept that this seems somewhat cold. While I take on board the Senator's strong case regarding the lack of facilities and permanent versus prefabricated accommodation and the provision of an additional three classrooms, I am not in a position to tell her that this will definitely happen.

The programme has been designed to give maximum information to managers, boards of management, principals, parents and students. The criteria used for selecting projects have also been published for the first time. This year's building programme amounts to €342.9 million, four times the amount allocated in 1997. I know the Senator will say that her area needs only a small percentage of that amount. The 2003 programme will deliver more than 140 large-scale projects at primary and post-primary level. In addition, more than 400 schools will benefit in some way from the capital programme and of course all primary schools benefit directly from the devolved grant scheme for minor works.

The budgetary allocation for 2004 and subsequent years will determine the rate of progress on projects at schools currently in the advanced stages of architectural planning such as the permanent building projects for Mary Mother of Hope national school in Castaheany. The Department has provided grant aid for the provision of additional temporary accommodation to which the Senator referred. This project is currently nearing completion. The management authorities at individual schools should continue to use funds from their devolved grant to deal with any urgent health and safety matters.

I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to outline the current position to the House. I will bring her views to the Minister's attention no later than tomorrow. I regret I do not have a more favourable reply for her. I have no doubt that she, the board of management, the principal and all involved will continue to make a strong case in this regard.

Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to share time with Senator Ulick Burke.

Rory Kiely (Fianna Fail)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State. As a Deputy representing a Gaeltacht area, I am sure he will sympathise with the case I am making for Gaelscoil uí Cheithearnaigh. I invite him to visit Ballinasloe to see the accommodation crisis at the school, which featured on RTÉ's "Six One News" programme this evening.

The school was founded 13 years ago with just six pupils. In September 2003, 195 pupils will be registered there. Accommodation is in four separate buildings, all of which are rented at a cost of €4,250 per month. Seven years ago, the school received priority one status for funding from the Department. On 1 December 1998 the school received written confirmation of funding for purchase of a site and building of the school as follows, "Is féidir liom a dhearbhú go mbeidh airgead ar fáil le suíomh a cheannach agus an scoil a thógáil."

The school authorities were recently informed that the site for the new school will not be purchased this year and that it is not now possible to know when it will be purchased. It is sad that this school may lose a site with planning permission for a ten teacher school. The school has a vibrant staff, enthusiastic parents and eager pupils enduring difficult conditions which pose constant health and safety problems for all concerned. I will emphasise the unsafe nature of this school for children.

Children are taught in chronically overcrowded classrooms, the exits from four of which lead out to a busy street. The school is located in four separate buildings with five separate ESB bills, five separate standing charges and three telephone bills. Children have to walk down a busy street to access the schoolyard. To get to and from games, drama or dance lessons, they must walk up and down Society Street in Ballinasloe and then cross the road and a busy bus park. Each child makes between two and eight of these trips each day. The classrooms lack proper lighting and ventilation, which is hazardous to the children's health. The toilet facilities are totally inadequate and it is difficult to maintain basic hygiene with boys and girls in five of the rooms having to share one toilet. The confined play area leads to many accidents and old buildings close by require constant repair to ensure their safety. That is a major concern for the school community.

Three of the classrooms, former shops, are now housed in an apartment complex. Three dressing rooms and a kitchen in the town hall double up as classrooms and this inevitably leads to disruption for all concerned. The local musical society, which performed Oklahoma for seven nights last week, had to use the children's classrooms.

Every year, during the great October fair, the car park is closed for up to four weeks, leaving parents with no parking facilities when collecting their children. There are no staff toilet facilities. Male and female staff and children from resource classes share one toilet. As the units are self-contained, it takes five staff to supervise eight classrooms on wet days.

Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Kitt for sharing time and I welcome the Minister of State. I fully endorse what Senator Kitt had to say in this instance. I do not think we should treat the endeavours of parents, boards of management and teachers who have laboured so willingly and desperately for many years to improve conditions at this school in this way.

The importance of this matter cannot be over-emphasised. Senator Kitt outlined the fact that many of the school's classrooms are in disused shop units, which are dangerous in the extreme. The goodwill among the community in promoting the Irish language has provided many children with an excellent educational service through Gaeilge. Whatever the website might say or whatever numbers game might be played, it is important to realise that this is a situation of utmost and greatest need.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senators Kitt and Ulick Burke for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science the Department's current position regarding the allocation of funding for schools building projects. The capital programme has been published and full details are available on the Department's website at www.education.ie. The programme is designed to give the maximum amount of information to managers, principals, parents, students and public representatives and the criteria used have been clearly outlined.

The building programme amounts to €342.9 million. Senator Kitt, like Senator Terry with regard to a different school, believes that very little of that budget would be needed to provide for a new school at Gaelscoil uí Cheithearnaigh, Ballinasloe, County Galway. The programme will deliver over 140 large scale projects at primary and post primary level, and over 400 schools will benefit in some way from the capital programme. The budgetary allocation for 2004 and subsequent years will determine the rate of progress on projects at schools currently at architectural planning stage, including that referred to by the Senator. If that were to be approved early next year, it would be foolish to suggest that the school would be up and running soon after with proper facilities provided for the 195 students.

Some 13 years ago, there were only six students at the school, whereas that has increased to 195, an amazing record. The school is a victim of its own success. Parents clearly have confidence in the staff, despite their having to work in poor conditions and over-crowded rooms as outlined by the Senators. Pupils also have to cross a dangerous street, which I am familiar with, to get to and from the school.