Seanad debates
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Schools Building Projects
12:00 pm
Ciarán Cannon (Fine Gael)
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St. Catherine's national school at Aughrim near Ballinasloe, County Galway is over 60 years old and comprises three very small classrooms that allow for a distance of only half a metre between children's desks. A little more than one decade ago, there were only three mainstream teachers and 77 pupils in the school. Some ten years later, there are five mainstream teachers, three special needs teachers, two special needs assistants and 117 pupils. With the recent opening of the new M6 route, which serves the general area of Aughrim and Ballinasloe, one could fully expect a significant increase in these numbers in the coming years.
In late 2005, the school was included in the permanent initiative and â¬300,000 was allocated to provide two new classrooms. Following discussions between the Department's architects and the board of management of the school, it was decided the â¬300,000 allocation fell short of what was required to address the needs of the school to a significant extent. Then, the Department's officials advised the school to forego that plan and to re-apply for a six classroom school or an extension. A whole school evaluation took place in 2007. The evaluation included the conclusions that classrooms in the main building are very congested, there is a deficit of auxiliary rooms, the staff room is very restricted and storage space poses a major difficulty. Prefabricated units restrict the play area and create a necessity for a high level of supervision at break periods. While the school has a fair sized pitch, there are no indoor games facilities and the board has identified the construction of a new school as its main priority and has entered into communication with the planning and building unit of the Department in this regard.
In 2007, the school planning section determined that the long-term accommodation requirements of St. Catherine's school would require space for a principal, eight mainstream teachers and ancillary staff. It was also determined that a new school would be required rather than simply an extension. The school's patron, Bishop Kirby, has made a site to the rear of the current school available for the purposes of building a new school.
Thankfully, the school now lies at band 1.1, the top of the banding priority list for school buildings. I trust this indication of the Department's intent will finally result in the allocation of resources towards the provision of a new school, which is so badly needed. I await the Minister of State's response with interest.
Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to take this Adjournment debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, who, unfortunately, cannot be present. I thank Senator Cannon for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects and to outline the current position in respect of St. Catherine's national school, Aughrim, County Galway.
As the Senator will be aware, all applications for capital funding are assessed in the planning and building unit of the Department. 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., ultimately leading 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 school 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.
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 exists currently, but there is a high demand for pupil places, while a band four project makes provision of desirable but not necessarily urgent or essential facilities. Each band rating has a number of subcategories that describe more specifically the works needed and the urgency attaching to them.
The school's enrolments have remained fairly constant. In 2009, the school had 117 pupils, which represents only a 1% increase in enrolments in the past five years. The board of management of St. Catherine's national school, Aughrim applied for an extension of two extra classrooms, a general purpose room, a staff room and a remedial or special needs room in May 1998. The school was selected as one which appeared to be suitable for delivery of its building project under the permanent accommodation scheme 2005 and the school authority was offered funding to build two mainstream classrooms and two resource rooms. The school authority accepted this offer and proceeded with the planning of this project while, at the same time, appealing the allocation under the scheme. Subsequently, having considered their options under the scheme, the school authority notified the Department that it had decided to withdraw from the scheme and requested that it would be considered for inclusion in the main programme for delivery by the traditional method, in line with the project's priority band rating.
The Department proceeded to review the long-term projected staffing figure, on which the school's accommodation needs are based. Following this review, it was determined that the long-term projected staffing for St. Catherine's national school, Aughrim will be for a principal plus eight mainstream teachers and this was notified to the school authorities on 30 January 2007. Following a site visit to the school, it was decided that a new school was required and that the existing school site of 1.2 acres would not be suitable to accommodate a new eight classroom school. The patron has indicated that parish land of 3.6 acres to the rear of the existing school site will be made available to accommodate the provision of the new eight-classroom school, bringing the total extended site to 4.8 acres.
The application from St. Catherine's national school, Aughrim, has been assigned a band 1.1 rating, the highest priority that can be assigned to a project. In the meantime, the Department devolved a grant to the school in 2003 to purchase a 50 sq. m. resource room to cater for special needs pupils and the school has sanction to continue to rent two mainstream classrooms.
It is also open to the school to apply for funding under the summer works scheme which is designed to address the integrity of existing school buildings. In this regard, the school has been successful in its application in 2006 for roof works and in 2007 for sewerage works. It has made an application again under the 2010 summer works scheme. These applications are being assessed.
However, the level of demand on the school building programme is such that all projects cannot be carried out together. They will have to be carried out over time in a structured and coherent manner and this is the reasoning behind the Department's published prioritisation criteria. The project for St. Catherine's national school will be carried out consistent with this approach. In the intervening period, the school can apply for temporary accommodation to meet its needs if this is necessary.
Again, I thank the Senator for raising the matter and, as I have already said, to assure him that the Minister is committed to advancing the project for St. Catherine's national school.
Ciarán Cannon (Fine Gael)
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Effectively, that is a resounding "No". The school is obviously not being assigned a very high priority within the Department's overall plan. I am not making any accusations against the Minister of State but he stated the schools building programme should be carried out in a structured and coherent manner. All that is being offered to this school, which was described by his colleague, Deputy Michael Kitt, in January 2007 as the worst school he had ever seen, with small overcrowded classrooms creating a serious health and safety hazard, is to continue to apply for a summer works scheme to do patchwork on what is a seriously substandard building. That has been the response with which I am very disappointed. I despair of the wisdom of suggesting that a school should continue to spend â¬1,728 per month on renting two prefabs as a long-term solution when that money being more wisely invested on a permanent solution would be the preferable outcome.
Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I do not believe the Senator should interpret my remarks in the way he did. The project has a band rating of 1.1, which is the highest priority a school building project can be given. It is a pleasure for me to come into the Seanad to say a school building project has a band rating of 1.1. The Minister will make further announcements this year in regard to the schools building and modernisation programme