David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I raise this issue because I have been in contact with the board of management and the principal of Gaelscoil Philip Barún in Tramore, County Waterford, for many years and have supported them in their battle for a school and capital funding. A meeting was organised with Oireachtas Members last week, with representatives present from the Minister of State's party and the Labour Party, along with an Independent Deputy and myself. We spoke to a large number of very angry parents. I told them the anger needed to be turned into action and that we should meet the Minister for Education and Skills as soon as possible. I also gave a commitment to table this Adjournment motion in order to put the record straight on the history of this school. I will give a brief outline of that history.

In September 1985, Gaelscoil Philip Barún opened, with 29 pupils. It was a one-teacher school located in Pond Road, in Tramore. In 1989 the school moved its three teachers and 65 pupils to Stella Maris House in Pond Road, Tramore. In 1992 a site was identified in Tramore but in 1993 planning permission was refused for it. In 1994 a second site was identified but in 1995 planning permission was again refused. In 1996 a series of meetings began with council officials in regard to identifying a new site. That was the case until 1999 when further consultations took place with the county manager. In May 2000 the Department of Education and Science instigated a study of the school's demographics and projected growth and an eight-classroom building was recommended for a 2.5 acre site. In 2002 the purchase of a site was finally agreed but because of the urgency of the gaelscoil's accommodation needs temporary prefabs were offered by the Department and the board of management reluctantly agreed to this.

In January 2003 Gaelscoil Philip Barún moved to an incomplete site following prolonged delays and difficulties with some of the contractors working on the site. The school's pupil population doubled in that year. In 2004 an application was made for additional temporary accommodation, which was granted. In 2005, the Department sought a new study of the school's projected demographics which was completed in May of that year and sent to the Department. The school heard nothing back.

In 2007 the board of management awaited the appointment of a design team. That happened and a priority rating of band 2.2 was given to the school. In 2009 a series of public meetings was held. A big meeting in Tramore was attended by parents, pupils and politicians who heard about the long plight and struggle the board of management, teachers and headmaster fought to get the necessary funding. In 2011 they finally received very good and long overdue news when it was announced the school was moving to architectural design stage. Earlier this year a design team was put in place.

The situation is that since 2000 children have been taught in prefabs. Every time I drive into Tramore I look to my right at one of the major roundabouts and I see all the prefabs which have been there for so long. I have given the Minister of State a brief history of what the school has had to do. It has jumped through all the hoops and over all the hurdles. An architectural study was carried out and a design team put in place. There are pupils who have never experienced a communal school with a proper hall - that is what they told us at the meetings. Given the history of the school's long struggle for proper school buildings the pupils were flabbergasted to be left out of the five-year programme. It is unacceptable that those pupils must wait until the five-year programme is over before they can resubmit an application. An Oireachtas Member from the same party as the Minister of State stood up at the meeting and said that he cannot and will not make any excuses. Why is that? It is because there is no excuse or justification of the exclusion of the school. In all of these matters, there are winners and losers but in this situation, given the history of the school, the fact that pupils have been taught in prefabs for so long and the fact that it was at the architectural stage, it is crazy that there are provisions in the capital programme for schools without a board of management. I hope the Minister of State has good news because there are angry parents at the school and they will not give up on this issue. We must put pressure on the Minister for Education and Skills to ensure he makes the right decision and grants the school the appropriate level of funding. It costs €65,000 a year to rent these prefabs. It is not good enough and something must be done.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the Government's strategy for capital investment in education projects over the next five years and to clarify the current position of the application for major capital funding from Gaelscoil Philib Barun, Tramore, County Waterford, whose roll number is 19885B. The Senator may find it helpful if I set out the context within which decisions relating to meeting the accommodation needs of schools must be considered over the coming years. Total enrolment is expected to grow by some 70,000 students between now and 2018 - by over 45,000 at primary level and 25,000 at post-primary. Second-level enrolment is expected to continue to rise until at least 2024. In order to meet the needs of our growing population of schoolgoing children, the Department must establish new schools as well as extending or replacing a number of existing schools in areas where demographic growth has been identified. The delivery of these new schools, together with extension projects to meet future demand, will be the main focus of the Department's budget for the coming years.

The five year programme announced on 12 March will provide more than 100,000 permanent school places, of which more than 80,000 will be new school places. The remainder will be the replacement of temporary or unsatisfactory accommodation. The project for Gaelscoil Philib Barun is intended to provide a new eight-classroom replacement school plus teaching accommodation for three full-time special education teachers and appropriate ancillary accommodation including a general purpose room. The new building is to be provided on the 2.5 acre site where the school is currently located in temporary accommodation. The eventual removal of the prefabs will form part of the project.

The project is currently at an early stage of architectural planning. A tender exercise to appoint a design team was recently completed and the design team will shortly be authorised to proceed to develop the detailed design. The project will continue to progress through the design stages up to and including securing planning permission and the preparation of tender documents. In view of the need to ensure that every child has access to a school place, the delivery of major school projects to meet the demographic demands nationally will be the main focus for capital investment in schools in the coming years. The five-year programme is focused on meeting those demographic needs. In that context, it was not possible to advance all applications for capital funding concurrently.

All school building projects, including the project for the gaelscoil, will continue to be advanced incrementally over time within the context of the funding available. However, in light of current competing demands on the Department's capital budget, it is not possible at this time to give an indicative timeframe for the progression to tender and construction of the project.

David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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The Minister's response says that the project is currently at an early stage of architectural planning and acknowledges the need for a new building on a 2.5 acre site owned by the Department. However, it reads as if this is an impediment. The school is more advanced than most schools in the capital programme. This school is at the architectural design stage and the design team has been appointed. Schools that do not even exist, with no boards of management, are being provided with funding yet this school, which has been fighting for 26 years and whose pupils have been taught in prefabs since the early 2000, is not included in the capital programme. It is simply not good enough and the Minister of State should pass on a message to the Minister for Education and Skills that we cannot have schools that exist only on paper being provided with funding while a school that has jumped through all the hoops and over all the hurdles is badly let down. The decision needs to be reversed and I impress upon the Minister of State the need to bring this back to the Minister for Education and Skills as a matter of urgency.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I will bring Senator Cullinane's strong representations to the Minister. I thank him for raising the issue. I know he feels very strongly about it.