David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister of State. Last March I raised the matter of capital funding for Gaelscoil Philib Barún. I put on record the long campaign waged by the board of management, the principal and the pupils at the school to have prefabs, which are in place at the moment to teach most of the pupils, transformed into buildings so that pupils can have proper accommodation. The project upon which the school has embarked will provide a new eight-classroom replacement school, teaching accommodation for three full-time special education teachers and the appropriate ancillary accommodation, including a general-purpose room. A site of 2.5 acres has been identified. There is one building in the school but it is surrounded by prefabs. The response last year was that, because the Department is looking at growing needs and changes in demographics mean we need to ensure new schools are built, it was not possible to find replacements for prefabs in all schools across the State. Since then, there has been a site visit by the Minister and officials of the Department of Education and Skills, and positive indications were given to the principal and the board of management. A public meeting organised by the school and attended by most of the Oireachtas Members put pressure on us to raise the issues with the Minister.

The school opened in 1985 with 29 pupils. It was a one-teacher school and moved to new premises in 1989, when it had 65 pupils. In 1992, a site was identified in Tramore but in 1993 planning permission for the site was refused. In 1994, a second site was identified but in 1995 planning permission was refused again. In 1996, a series of meetings with council officials took place with a view to identifying a new site. In 1999, this happened, and in 2000 the first building was built. Since then, pupils have been taught in prefabs. In view of the history of the struggle of the school and its long association with trying to get new buildings built, and given that this has gone to the architectural design stage and that the majority of pupils in schools are being taught in prefabs, which cost more in terms of rental accommodation, it would make economic sense as well as good social sense to ensure pupils are taught in the best possible accommodation. Everyone accepts that we are in tight circumstances and that it is more difficult to provide capital funding for everything. However, when the major capital investment in schools was announced by the Minister last year, we can appreciate that the pupils, parents, principal and board of management of the school believed their school would be successful. Unfortunately, it was not. Since I raised this matter on the Adjournment last year, the Minister has visited the school and he knows at first hand the need for the prefabs to be replaced with new classrooms to ensure pupils are taught in the best way. I hope the Minister of State has good news. If he does not have good news about capital funding being made available so that the school can move to the building and planning stage, perhaps he can outline the future plans of the Department for the school.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to outline to the Seanad the Government's strategy for capital investment in school building projects over the next five years and to clarify the current position on the application for major capital funding from Gaelscoil Philib Barún, Tramore, County Waterford.

Gaelscoil Philib Barún is a primary school catering for both boys and girls and operating under the patronage of the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore. The school has been in operation since 1986 and was afforded permanent recognition in 1996. Enrolment for the 2011-12 school year was 219 pupils, an increase of 13% over the past five years. While enrolments have increased overall in the area in the past five to ten years, projections at primary level for the Tramore area up to 2018 indicate that enrolments will remain largely unchanged, with no anticipated increase in demand for additional classroom accommodation in the area over that period.

The brief for the major building project is to provide a new eight-classroom school plus accommodation for three full-time special education teachers and appropriate ancillary accommodation, including a general purpose room. The design team for the project was appointed on 12 March 2012. The project is at an early stage of architectural planning. A standard pre-stage-1 meeting with Department officials, the school authorities and the design team was held in the Department in July 2012. The pre-stage-1 meeting is a relatively recent introduction, as part of my Department's revised design team procedures, and is designed to consider all of the site-specific design options as presented by the design team and to agree on the best design option in taking the project forward. Due to issues arising from the pre-stage-1 presentation for Gaelscoil Philib Barún, a revised pre-stage-1 report was requested. This was received in the Department in November 2012 and, following its review, the school authorities and the design team were advised in December 2012 that the project was authorised to complete stage 1.

The design team is currently working on the completion of the stage 1 report and it is anticipated that the report will be submitted to the Department shortly. Once this stage is complete the design team will proceed to stage 2a, which involves developing a more detailed design in preparation for the submission of applications to the local authority for planning permission, fire certificate and disability access certificate. These statutory applications, along with the completion of the tender documents for the project, comprise stage 2b, which is the final design stage of the architectural planning process.

Due to competing demands on my Department's capital budget imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of additional school accommodation to meet increasing demographic requirements, it was not possible to include the project for Gaelscoil Philib Barún in the five-year construction programme announced in March 2012. School building projects, including the new school for Gaelscoil Philib Barún, which have not been scheduled for construction in the five-year programme but which had previously been announced for initial inclusion in the building programme will continue to be progressed to final planning stages in anticipation of the possibility of further funds being available to the Department in future years. The project for Gaelscoil Philib Barún remains available to be considered for progression in that context.

David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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In January 2003 Gaelscoil Philib Barún moved to the incomplete site. In the same year, the number of students in the school doubled. Since 2003, pupils have been in prefabs. That factor means the school should receive the appropriate funding and be in the capital programme. That is the Minister's call, not mine, and he must address that with the students and board of management. It is amazing that the school has jumped through every hoop and over every hurdle. The design team is in place and stage 1 is complete. This process may well end up being completed, with the design and planning completed, but the funding will not be available even though the school has increased in size to a massive extent.

The Minister of State referred to demographics. The town of Tramore will come into the new metropolitan area of Waterford city under the new local government structures. It makes perfect sense for the Minister of State to ensure the school is properly built so that it can cater for the growing needs of the people of Tramore. I must impress upon the Minister of State that the school must be built for the sake of the students, who have been taught in prefabs for far too long. It is not good enough. I ask the Minister of State to ask the senior Minister to reconsider and ensure capital funding is provided as quickly as possible.