Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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Kildallon national school is 108 years old. The building has walls 12 ft. high. The rooms are very cold and the building is not insulated. It has been heated by storage heaters for most of this awful winter. The ceilings are so high that it is impossible to heat the building. The windows are wooden and single glazed. The classroom is an old, long and narrow room that contains 25 children across four different classes.

The secretary works in cramped conditions in that building. She has given me permission to make the following point and she was anxious that it would be made. She suffers from cystic fibrosis and the awful conditions in which she works have an even worse effect on her.

In addition to the permanent classroom the school has a prefab, which celebrated its 19th birthday last year and is approaching its 20th birthday. The prefab is in a very run-down and damp state. The exit door is held together by paint. It is hard to imagine that is the case but it is true. It is impossible to drive a nail through it. Some of the windows close and others do not open. The timber in the prefab is rotten. Infants and first class numbering 22 children occupy the prefab. I observed all of that personally, in addition to meeting the teaching and support staff.

The school would have had the numbers for three teachers this year but with the new arrangements it was not in a position to avail of a third teacher. It will get three teachers in September 2009. I pray the Minister will inform me the situation will be altered by then but assuming the situation does not alter, in a doomsday scenario the prefab will have disintegrated around the pupils and they will have climbed out, which means there would be a need for two classrooms in the school.

The school is currently applying to the Department for funding under the emergency works scheme of €42,000. It has obviously been to the banks at various stages through the years and this is the current application which it hopes will succeed. Even if the €42,000 is approved and spent there will ultimately be a need for two new classrooms.

The teaching and support staff are excellent, led by Ms Teresa McCaffrey, principal. She is exceptionally good and the school is exceptionally good. The parents have a great pride and interest in the school and there is a great whole school community in place. It is clearly unacceptable for the children to be in those conditions but the working conditions for the teachers and support staff are Dickensian. That is no exaggeration. The situation is really bad and cannot be sustained. I appeal to the Minister to act on this matter. The Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, and I were colleagues in the Seanad previously and he knows I would not exaggerate but if the Minister does for a moment think I exaggerate I invite him to visit the school. He would come back from it astounded.

This last global point hardly needs making, but surely with present contract prices and VAT returns saving people from being on the dole there is a merit in putting construction people to work on this job purely in the national interest. This school is suffering hugely and I appeal to the Minister to take action. I look forward with interest to his response.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Education and Science.

The Minister for Education and Science thanks the Senator for raising this matter as it gives him an opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position regarding the application from Kildallon national school for funding under the summer works scheme to carry out work to the school building. The school applied for funding in September 2007 under the then proposed 2008 scheme to replace windows and doors and the central heating system, to provide insulation and to upgrade the electrical installation.

In 2003 to 2004, the Department moved towards a model of devolving funding, responsibility and authority for building projects directly to school management authorities. The intention was to improve the quality of the school building infrastructure in a structured and prioritised manner, to improve efficiency in the use of resources and to achieve value for money. The summer works scheme introduced in 2004 was one such solution.

The purpose of the summer works scheme was to ensure precise targeting of funding for smaller scale works by using a time-bound process, from application to implementation, which would be open to all recognised schools. The works would be carried out in the summer months to prevent disruption to schools.

Under the terms of the scheme, school authorities are empowered to manage those works with guidance from, and minimal interaction with, the Department. The scheme has enabled the Department and school authorities to address deficiencies arising from the historic wider investment in school infrastructure over the years. This is particularly the case in regard to upgrading of gas, mechanics and electrics and addressing structural defects. Projects to facilitate inclusion and access for special needs pupils are also a feature of the scheme. Since its inception, the scheme has been refined annually to incorporate feedback both from school authorities and from staff administering the scheme. It has also been amended, where necessary, to reflect any changes in public procurement procedures and health and safety regulations.

Under the summer works scheme more than 3,000 projects, costing in excess of €300 million, have been completed since 2003 to 2004. With so many smaller projects having been completed in recent years, the particular emphasis in 2008 was on providing sufficient school places in developing areas, while also delivering improvements in the quality of existing primary and post-primary school accommodation throughout the country. Accordingly, the Department focused on delivering as many large projects as possible in 2008 and funding was not made available for a summer works scheme last year. This concentration on major projects enabled the Department to complete 48 new primary schools in 2008. This is an unprecedented number of new school buildings in any one year and includes 27 schools delivered under the fast-track off-site construction programme in rapidly developing areas. In addition, a total of 29 major extension-refurbishment projects at primary level were completed. The programme also resulted in the completion of three new post-primary schools and 15 major extension and refurbishment projects in existing post-primary schools in 2008.

However, the Department recognises the benefits of the scheme in addressing the needs of schools and the intention is to have a scheme this year. The details of the operation of the scheme and the funding to be made available under the scheme in 2009 are being considered and the Minister will make an announcement on the matter shortly. The professional and technical reports provided by schools for 2008, including Kildallon national school, can be used again for future projects so that schools will not be at the loss of expenditure on them.

The Minister wishes to thank the Senator again for giving him the opportunity to outline the current position to the Seanad and to assure the Senator that the application from Kildallon school will be fully considered in the context of the 2009 programme. The Senator also mentioned an application under the emergency works scheme. I do not have an update but I will look into that before reverting to him.

Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for his latter remark that he will examine the application made under the emergency works scheme. A total of 25 children are in the four classes in the old building and 22 junior and senior infants are in the prefab. The position is desperate. The principal and staff are not professional agitators and they made the application under the emergency works scheme to increase their chances of securing funding. I am not bothered whether the funding is delivered under the summer works scheme or the emergency scheme because we will be happy once it is delivered. I look forward to the Minister of State reverting to me on the application under the emergency works scheme.