Seanad debates

Thursday, 9 July 2009

Photo of John Paul PhelanJohn Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, to the House. My Adjournment issue is pretty self-explanatory. It concerns Ballinkillen national school in south County Carlow, which was the subject of a protest outside Leinster House a few weeks ago, where the parents, members of the board of management and some of the pupils were present to highlight the conditions that prevail at that particular school. It is believed to be the oldest national school still in use in the country, as the building is over 200 years old. The problem is that the majority of the students are not housed in the school building itself but in prefabs that are attached to or on the grounds of the school building. The prefabs and the building itself are no longer fit for purpose.

Successive boards of management have been promised action on a new school for the last 30 years, but no action has been taken. When they first raised the issue of the difficulties with accommodation at the school 1982, they were given temporary prefabs. Those temporary structures are still there, and both the building and the temporary structures are no longer fit for purpose. There are 99 or 109 students in the school, which has four class teachers and additional resource teachers.

Can the Minister of State outline to the House the progress that is being made on the provision of a new school building? A number of comments have been made in the media by people connected with the school, and they expressed the understandable opinion that there is a bias in the Department's allocation of resources against small rural schools such as the national school in Ballinkillen. I hope that the Minister of State will be in a position to ensure that a new school building will be provided as a matter of priority. I know that we are in straitened economic circumstances at the moment, and that it is difficult for the Minister of State to give commitments, but for a building that has been promised for 30 years for the oldest national school in the country, it would be appropriate that the Department of Education and Science would act swiftly on the provision of a new school building as soon as possible.

Photo of Seán HaugheySeán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am happy to reply on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who unfortunately cannot be present. I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position on the application to the Department of Education and Science from Ballinkillen national school in County Carlow for large-scale capital funding.

Ballinkillen national school currently has a core staffing level of a principal and three mainstream teachers. It also has the services of two learning support teachers and an enrolment at 30 September 2008 of 107 pupils. The school's current accommodation consists of two permanent classrooms plus some ancillary accommodation. The school also has the use of two prefabricated units.

In 2004, the school management submitted an application for large-scale capital funding for the provision of a new school. A more recent application for such funding was received in 2008. In January 2009, the Minister for Education and Science met with a delegation from the school. The delegation put forward a proposal for a new school building to be built on a site donated by a local resident.

All applications for capital funding are assessed in the planning and building unit of the Department of Education and Science against published prioritisation criteria, which were formulated following consultation with the education partners. The assessment process determines the extent and type of accommodation needed based on population growth, demographic trends, current and projected enrolments, recent and planned housing developments, the capacity of existing schools to meet the demand for pupil places and the condition of the school building itself. As part of this process, a project is assigned a band rating under the prioritisation criteria, which I have already mentioned. There are four band ratings in all, with band 1 being the highest and band 4 being the lowest. Projects are selected for inclusion in the school building and modernisation programme on the basis of priority of need. This is reflected in the band rating assigned to the schools. In other words, a building project moves through the system commensurate with the band rating assigned to it and as it ready to proceed. The application from Ballinkillen national school has been assigned a band 2.2 rating, reflecting the fact that the standard of its existing accommodation is such that it needs an extension that is greater than 50% of the existing building.

Due to the scale of competing demands on the Department's capital programme, it has not been possible to date to progress the major building project for this school. In February of this year, the Minister for Education and Science announced details of 43 major building projects to proceed to tender and construction and 25 high priority projects to commence architectural planning. The project for Ballinkillen national school was not included in this announcement. Therefore, it will not be proceeding in 2009. However, the project for this school will be considered for the Department's 2010 capital programme.

In the meantime, the school management may apply for capital funding under various schemes such as the summer works scheme, emergency works grants and permanent school accommodation or temporary accommodation scheme. These schemes are in place in order to meet accommodation needs as they arise and also to ensure that schools' accommodation is maintained to an acceptable standard.

Ballinkillen national school applied for funding for capital works under the summer works 2005 scheme, but subsequently withdrew its application. In 2007, the school applied for and was recently approved €37,000 in funding towards the upgrading of toilet facilities in the school. The Department has no record of any further application for emergency funding to address any other capital works at the school. Any such application would be favourably considered by the Department.

In addition, all primary schools receive an annual minor works grant to enable schools carry out small-scale works that can be completed without the need to interact with the Department. For the 2008-09 school year alone, individual primary schools received a grant of €5,500 plus €18.50 per pupil.

It is not possible to advance all major projects at the same time. However, all school building projects, including that for Ballinkillen national school, will be advanced incrementally through the system, over time, and as funding is available. I thank the Senator again for allowing me the opportunity to outline the position in relation to Ballinkillen national school.

Photo of John Paul PhelanJohn Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Minister of State for his response. Band 2.2 effectively means that they are going nowhere fast, if my understanding of the banding system is correct. In his comments to the media, the parish priest mentioned the bias against rural schools. The assessment process outlined by the Minister of State is based on population growth, demographic trends, current and projected enrolments, recent and planned housing developments, and the capacity of the existing schools to meet demand. It seems that most priorities are for new school buildings in urban areas. That is understandable, given the recent housing developments around this city and other large urban areas. However, clearly the bias against small rural schools exists in the system. Maybe it is time that this is examined, in light of the fact that we will not have significant developments on the outskirts of towns, so that we can have fair and equal treatment for small national schools around the country like Ballinkillen.