Seanad debates
Wednesday, 29 March 2006
Adjournment Matters.
Schools Building Projects.
7:00 am
Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Deputy Brennan, to the House. I hoped the Minister for Education and Science would be here, but I am sure Deputy Brennan will pass on my comments to her.
Ardattin national school was a small two-teacher school but following an explosion in attendance it now has three teachers and has consequently applied for a devolved grant to build on a new unit.
I compliment the Department of Education and Science on the trend it is following to move away from horrible prefab buildings. I was delighted to see from a parliamentary question reply that the Department only spends 5% of its budget on prefabs. While prefabs may be a short-term solution, they turn into a long-term problem. I taught in a prefab and found it unsatisfactory in terms of ventilation, etc. When I was teaching in a prefab in a Dublin school, my first job each morning was to empty the mouse-traps.
Ardattin is a beautiful village in County Carlow with a proud record in the Tidy Towns competition. The school was offered a prefab by the Department, but it felt it would be unsuitable and take away from the overall appearance of the village. The school is beside a beautiful church and has done much work on its grounds. It has put in a basketball court and added a staffroom at its own expense. It was looking forward to getting a devolved grant to enable it to add on two extra classrooms that would blend in with the existing building but, unfortunately, that has not happened.
I appreciate the school was offered a prefab, but that would not be satisfactory to the school or the community particularly in view of the work done in improving the overall appearance of the village. I appeal to the Minister to reverse the decision and provide the money to build a permanent solution to the current problem that will enhance the village.
Michael Brennan (Progressive Democrats)
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As a former Minister for Education and Science, I understand the points being made by the Senator.
On behalf of the Minister for Education and Science I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it affords me the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the strategy of the Department of Education and Science for capital investment in education projects, and also to outline the action planned to progress the application for capital funding received from Ardattin national school, County Carlow.
Modernising facilities in our 3,200 primary and 750 post-primary schools is not an easy task given the legacy of decades of underinvestment in this area and the need to respond to emerging needs in areas of rapid population growth. Nonetheless, since taking office, the Government has shown a sincere determination to improve the condition of our school buildings and to ensure that the appropriate facilities are in place to enable the implementation of a broad and balanced curriculum.
In this regard the Government has invested in the largest school building programme in the history of the State. Between 1998 and the end of 2004, almost â¬2 billion was invested in school buildings, which represents a five-fold increase in capital allocations. In the region of 7,500 large and small projects were completed in schools in this period, including 130 brand new schools and 510 large-scale refurbishments and extensions. To build on this extensive progress, in 2006 over â¬491 million will be spent on school building projects, compared with just â¬92 million in 1997. The 2006 allocation is an increase of over 9% in real terms on the 2005 allocation.
As the Senator will be aware, at the end of last year the Minister for Education and Science outlined her spending plans for primary and post-primary schools for 2006. With â¬491 million to be spent on school buildings, over 1,300 active projects will be embarked on in schools throughout the country. This significant investment will allow the Department to continue to progress its major programme of school building and modernisation, which includes improving equipment needed for new technologies and ICT.
It was not possible to include the proposed building project at Ardattin national school in the list of schools recently announced to receive funding for extension and refurbishment works, as a determination of the school's long-term needs, and hence its suitability or otherwise for such a scheme, had not been sufficiently advanced at the time decisions were required to be made on school selections for the schemes in question.
The application has, however, been assessed in accordance with the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects and progress on the proposed works is being considered in the context of the school building and modernisation programme from 2006 onwards. In the meantime, I am pleased to inform the Senator that approval has been given to the school for the rental of temporary accommodation to meet its immediate accommodation needs.