Lorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank her for taking this matter on the Adjournment. My home town of Athenry is a growing urban area the population of which has increased from 1,000 during pre-boom times to 5,000 currently and, as a consequence, the local schools, and in particular the Presentation College in Athenry, is experiencing over-capacity and ongoing demand for school places. This school was built to accommodate considerably fewer students than the approximately 1,000 students currently attending the school. More troubling is that of the student population, at least half of the students are housed in prefabs. Furthermore, other difficulties are being presented, particularly to parents in the town and those from surrounding parishes such as Monivea, Clarinbridge, Craughwell and Kilcolgan who are trying to get their children educated at this school, which has a wonderful academic record, but to no avail as a result of the demands that are placed on it.

The school would like to be able to accommodate all these children, and there is a significant over-capacity issue, but because of the serious over-utilisation of general space in the school and that half the school population study in prefabs, health and safety risks may well be presented to all and sundry.

Adequately spaced classrooms are in short supply, as is specialist accommodation for the school. While the school has received funding in the past for upgrading the facilities and the addition of temporary classroom facilities, for which the principal of the school and the board of the management are extremely grateful to the Department, it is telling that the Department has acknowledged the unsuitability of the facility when it placed the school on a five-year list for capital building works and earmarked a 20-acre site for development on the outskirts of Athenry.

I understand that in December 2011 the project has entered into a design process whereby a team of architects and engineers planned the form and structure of this new school but despite promises at that time that the school would be up and running by 2014, it is clear now that this will not be possible. The board of management has been very proactive in proceeding through the various processes and it has, as such, completed its part of the deal. However, information to which I have become privy and that has been circulating locally suggests that other business organisations involved in significant infrastructure projects within Athenry, which are to be earmarked for development locally, have grave reservations about the viability of this site from a planning perspective. I am afraid that may stymie any plans to have a school built on this site that is earmarked for development. It calls into question the suitability of the site in its totality and if that is the case, I suggest to the Minister that we should not delay and should seek alternative sites to ensure that the progress of this school continues without any undue delay.

In light of what I have stated, I request that the Minister outline the current status of the application for new accommodation, including an indication of the timeframe within which this school project will be delivered. If the details I have referred to in my contribution are accurate, the Minister of State or the Minister, Deputy Quinn, might be so good as to inform me.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn. I am pleased to be given this opportunity to inform the House of the position regarding the provision of new accommodation for Presentation College, Athenry.

As the Senator will be aware, meeting the current emerging demographic challenges for the school sector is one of the highest priorities of the Minister and his officials. The provision of school accommodation in areas of greatest need is the key to achieving our objectives in this respect. The Senator will recall that the Minister announced a five-year plan for school building projects in March 2012. More particularly, he also recently announced the 50 school projects scheduled for construction in the current year as part of a €2 billion capital investment programme. Through these announcements the Minister has identified the major school projects that will be undertaken to meet these challenges. These projects will commence construction over the duration of the five-year plan.

As Senator Higgins said, Presentation College, Athenry, is a co-educational voluntary secondary school in a town which has seen significant population growth in the past number of years. That growth precipitated the identification of Athenry as one of the areas in need of additional school provision at both primary and post-primary levels. The Minister is also conscious that a significant proportion of the students in Presentation College, Athenry, are currently being accommodated in temporary buildings and facilities. The need for new school places in the school is critical in that context.

Consequently, it is planned to deliver a new post-primary school with provision for 1,000 pupil places on a greenfield site in Athenry. This school building will replace the existing Presentation College premises. A site for the new school was acquired from Teagasc by the school trustees in late 2012.

I was not aware there was an issue with the site, but I will return to that matter. The site is currently the subject of pre-planning preparations for the project. The preparations are being undertaken by the National Development Finance Agency to which the project has been devolved for delivery under the new devolved model which is in use by the Department. Pre-planning discussions are taking place with all relevant stakeholders, including the board of management, nearby residents and enterprises and the local community in general. The discussions are ongoing and progressing. The target date to complete the project at Presentation College, Athenry, is 2014-15. It is hoped that by then students and staff will be able to occupy the fully equipped science laboratories, multi-media and technology rooms, music, art and home economics facilities and the special needs unit. I assure Senator Higgins that in the interim the Department is maintaining contact with the school to ensure there is sufficient accommodation for September 2013.

I thank the Senator for the opportunity to set out this information. I note the specific issues she raised, which I will bring to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn.

Lorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response. I am glad some clarity has been provided. I am aware that the Department is in contact with the school, on behalf of which I have raised the issue this evening. The school was seeking clarity as to a definite timeline and a date by which students and staff could occupy the accommodation in the new building. As I said, there was concern locally about the suitability of the site in the context of an outside body or agency looking at developing significant infrastructure in the town. It was of concern to me as it is in the interests of parents, the board of management and the general population of the town that the project goes ahead as quickly as possible and that nothing stands in the way of it being expedited.