Alan Kelly (Labour)
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I thank the Chair for accepting this motion on the Adjournment. I also welcome the Minister of State.

The reason I raise the motion is to make the case for two vocational schools in north Tipperary, Nenagh and Borrisokane, to be moved up the list of school building projects sanctioned by the Department. They should be two of the main priorities. In my travels throughout Munster I have not seen two schools more in need of upgrading. Only for the dedication of the two school principals, Mr. Michael McNulty and Mr. Matthew Carr, they would not exist. Mr. McNulty is principal of Nenagh vocational school and a woodwork teacher by training. In the evenings and at weekends he maintains the school. He does more maintenance work than anything else. He hangs doors and fixes walls and ceilings, because if he did not, the school would fall down.

I doubt that if these schools were the subject of a full health and safety audit, particularly Nenagh vocational school, they would pass. The plethora of works required to be done is astonishing. Both schools have reached phase three on the schools building projects list, but have been stuck there for a long time. They were built in the 1970s and have not been upgraded since. Many in the region believe North Tipperary VEC is being discriminated against for some reason and do not know the reason the schools kept being pushed back on the list.

Nenagh vocational school does not have enough sockets to work equipment. As it suffers from power surges, computers are constantly blowing. The metalwork room is marked off by a yellow line half way across which students are not allowed to pass because there are so many leaks in the roof and water is getting into equipment. The fear is that some student will be badly injured. Showers in the school have not worked for 20 years. The school won the schools all-Ireland hurling title, yet it does not have showers that work. That is scandalous. It also suffers from a lack of insulation and the heating only works properly on one side of the building. It has to be turned on and off in order that one side does not get too warm and the other does not get too cold. Parents must help in cleaning the school. Because of the constant leaks and problems with the roof there is a need for constant maintenance by volunteers.

There are similar problems at Borrisokane. I have never seen a problem similar to one in the school where two classrooms have no windows. Therefore, there is little ventilation and no natural light. By any standards, let alone the standards expected in 2008, that is a disgrace. The school also has issues with eating facilities. An issue expected to arise in the coming year is that the school expects to enrol a student who uses a wheelchair, yet there will be no way for that student to move around the school.

The matter is urgent. The schools have tried their best with the Department but receive no response from it or the civil servants. They cannot get information on the reason they are stuck at phase three. Another aspect is the investment made by both schools. Nenagh vocational school has spent €290,000 to date on drawing up plans and doing the necessary work to reach phase three. Borrisokane vocational school has spent €369,000. If there is no movement soon, that money will be wasted. We are all aware there is a time limit. It is ridiculous that more than €600,000 has been spent to date on getting these schools to phase three, but they have not been allowed proceed. I challenge the Minister to come and visit them. I also challenge him to name any school he has seen which should have greater priority than Nenagh and Borrisokane vocational schools which are in a desperate state. The health and safety issues are significant. I do not want to hear some morning that a student has been badly injured in one of them. We must act now and nip the problem in the bud.

The schools offer significant community services and are available in the evenings. They offer important PLC courses to significant numbers. They do much work below the radar working with various groups, yet they do not have proper facilities. I urge the Minister of State to find out their exact position on the list and the reason they are so far down and stuck at phase three. I have visited schools all over Munster and have not seen cases as bad as these. These two schools are located in my home area.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position on the proposed building projects for both Nenagh and Borrisokane vocational schools.

All applications for capital funding are assessed in the modernisation and policy unit of the Department of Education and Science. The assessment process determines the extent and type of need presenting, based on the demographics of an area, proposed housing developments, condition of buildings, site capacity, etc., leading ultimately to an appropriate accommodation solution. As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating under published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects. These criteria were devised following consultation with the education partners.

Projects are selected for inclusion in the schools building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to a project. In other words, a proposed building project moves through the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it and according as it is ready to proceed.

There are four band ratings overall, of which band one is the highest and band four the lowest. Band one projects, for example, include the provision of buildings where none currently exists but there is a high demand for pupil places. Band two projects largely address mainstream extension and refurbishment needs, band three projects address ancillary needs and band four projects make provision of desirable, but not necessarily urgent or essential, facilities. Each band rating has a number of subcategories, which more specifically describe the type of works needed at a school and the urgency attaching to them.

As for health and safety issues, individual school authorities are responsible, in the first instance, under safety, health and welfare at work legislation for ensuring the safety and welfare of children and others in their care. It is the responsibility of individual school management authorities to have in place a safety statement in their schools. The statement should identify potential hazards, assess the risks to health and safety and put in place appropriate provision to safeguard the safety and health of employees and pupils. The safety statement should be reviewed on a regular basis. In practical terms, individual school authorities are best placed to assess the detail of their own health and safety requirements.

The Department of Education and Science is currently working with the Health and Safety Authority and State Claims Agency to develop a health and safety management system to support post-primary schools to meet their obligations under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. This work forms part of a wider initiative to reduce the administrative burden on post-primary schools by supporting them in preparing policies to meet a range of legislative and regulatory requirements. A total of eight such policies have been published to date and these are available on the Department's website, www.education.ie. The Department of Education and Science takes great care to ensure that all health and safety requirements are incorporated into new school buildings and extensions. The Department ensures that its technical guidance documentation takes cognisance of all health and safety legislation to inform design teams of their obligations in this area when designing building projects.

Provision is built into the school building and modernisation programme to enable schools address urgent health and safety issues. This includes financial provision under the summer works scheme under which both of the schools in question have benefited. The Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, will provide the details of this at another time. The Department of Education and Science also sets aside contingency funding each year to address urgent unforeseen issues with school buildings.

Borrisokane Community College is a co-educational provider. It has a current enrolment of 474 pupils and this number has increased slightly in recent years. Following an application for capital funding from the VEC for an extension and refurbishment project at this school, a building project was approved to commence architectural planning. A stage 3 submission, which is the developed sketch scheme, has been approved in this regard. While it has not been possible to progress the project further due to higher competing demands, the school has received funding amounting to €255,000 under the summer works scheme between the years 2005 and 2007 for an electrical upgrade and partial roof replacement. This has improved conditions at the school.

Nenagh Vocational School also is a co-educational school with an enrolment of 360 students, which is broken down into 257 mainstream pupils and 103 post-leaving certificate, PLC, and vocational training opportunities scheme, VTOS, students. The school has experienced a 9% decrease in its mainstream enrolments in recent years, while its PLC and VTOS enrolments are stable. An extension and refurbishment project for this school also is at stage 3 of the architectural planning process and the stage 3 submission has been approved. Again, while the funding has not been available to allow the project to proceed further, this school also received €384,000 in funding under the summer works scheme in 2006 and 2007 for an electrical upgrade and for universal access works.

The extension and refurbishment projects for both Nenagh and Borrisokane have been assigned a band 2.4 rating under the published prioritisation criteria for large-scale building projects, which I already mentioned. This reflects the fact that although there is a deficit of mainstream accommodation in the schools, it does not represent a substantial or significant portion of the schools' overall accommodation needs. It also reflects the fact that the schools are in need of refurbishment. Part of the refurbishment aspect of the projects has been addressed by the allocation of summer works scheme funding.

Due to competing demands on the capital budget from higher band rated projects, it is not possible to give an indicative timeframe for the further progression of the remainder of these projects at present. However, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, wishes to assure the Senator that he is committed to delivering the projects as soon as the necessary funding becomes available.

I again thank the Senator for raising this matter.

Alan Kelly (Labour)
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While I thank the Minister of State for his response, I wish to raise a couple of matters. First, it is difficult for Nenagh Vocational School to maintain its enrolment at the appropriate level when parents can see its current condition. Would the Minister of State enrol his child in a school that he knew lacked showers and adequate physical education facilities and where health and safety risks abound? Parts of some rooms cannot be entered because of the danger of electrocution. The enrolment issue arises from the condition in which the school has been left. While other schools have received funding down the years, the aforementioned two schools have been left out.

Second, a serious issue exists which will make national——

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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Does the Senator have a question?

Alan Kelly (Labour)
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A serious issue exists in respect of wheelchair access and I ask the Minister of State to investigate it as a matter of priority. One cannot have national headlines in which a student who attempts to enrol in a school cannot so do because he or she has a disability.

Finally, the Minister of State should ask his ministerial colleague to re-assess the band rating for the two schools under discussion. It is about time it was reassessed and I plead for this to happen.

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I again thank the Senator. As I am sure he is aware, a large capital budget has been allocated for school building next year. He will not wish to displace other projects that are ahead of the projects to which he referred today in an attempt to move them forward. As for the last item he mentioned, he probably is aware that applications can be made for grants in respect of mobility access for students with special needs and I am involved with such cases in my constituency. While major economic constraints obviously exist at present, in general I have found the departmental officials to be extremely helpful in such circumstances. I certainly will bring the matters raised by the Senator to the Minister's attention.