Lorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, to the House. I know he is quite familiar with Loughrea, County Galway and how it has experienced a significant increase in its population. This has led to an increased demand on public services in the town and surrounding areas. This is particularly evident at Scoil Naomh Éanna national school, Bullaun, Loughrea, County Galway.

The school is a standard three-classroom built in 1959 with an increase in its enrolment from 39 pupils in 2000 to 187 pupils in 2013. Scoil Naomh Éanna urgently requires the construction of a new school building to help meet the demands of its increased enrolment. To help cope with the increase in pupils, the school's board of management purchased four prefabs, costing the school €100,000 a year in rent. Pupils are also being taught out of the school grounds in the local Bullaun hall. Parents of children at the school have raised concerns with me and other Oireachtas Members about the safety of their children going to school in Bullaun hall, as they have to cross and walk along a busy main road. To compound matters, the owner of the land on which the school was initially given consent to locate prefabs is now using legal action to seek the removal of the prefabs.

Further to this, the school's septic tank is now absorbing water from the water table. In the past year, it has been emptied and desludged several times. A recent health and safety audit condemned the system. The school principal has warned this is a crisis situation. The board of management has already applied for emergency works to be carried out on its percolation system. While funding has been sanctioned by the Department, the school has been unable to proceed with the project because of space restrictions and difficulties with planning permission. The school literally does not have the space to install a new system.

The board of management has had several contacts with the Department of Education and Skills for the past seven years emphasising this significant enrolment increase was unfolding and that a new school building was urgently required. In December 2006, an application was lodged with the Department of Education and Skills for funding major capital works at Scoil Naomh Éanna. The whole-school evaluation in 2007 resulted in a recommendation by an inspector that this funding be made available as a matter of urgency. In 2014, funding is still not forthcoming for a school building. Despite spiralling enrolment during the past seven years, the school has been banded 2.2 on the waiting list for funding from the Department. Given these circumstances, the school’s community is rightly concerned as to why it has not been given immediate priority for funding to build a much needed new school.

The patron of the school, Bishop John Kirby, has agreed to make a site available for the construction of a new school. A fund-raising drive by the school and parents in 2006 raised €35,000 towards what was then seen as a project which was highly likely to materialise. This is still in a deposit account gaining interest.

It is clear that Scoil Naomh Éanna does not have adequate conditions. Will the Minister of State outline any proposals for dealing with this matter? I hope this project will be expedited and that the Minister of State will use his influence in the Department so the people of Bullaun, Loughrea, County Galway, can look forward to a new school building sooner rather than later.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I congratulate the Acting Chairman for his correct pronunciation of Bullaun. It is often mispronounced.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I am a man of the west.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it provides me with the opportunity to clarify the position on the proposed building project at Scoil Naomh Éanna, Bullaun, Loughrea, County Galway.

The Senator will be aware of the significant demographic challenge facing the education system in the coming years and the need to ensure there is sufficient school accommodation to cope with these pupil enrolments. The delivery of new schools, together with extension projects to meet future pupil enrolment demand, will be the main focus for capital investment in schools in the coming years. While Bullaun has not been identified as an area of significant demographic growth, the Department, however, also recognises that schools not included in the five-year construction programme may require additional accommodation where an immediate enrolment need in an area is arising. Over the past five years, enrolment at Scoil Naomh Éanna has risen from 140 pupils to 187, a 30% increase which is significant.

In the case of Scoil Naomh Éanna, the Department has recognised the need for additional school accommodation to address its immediate needs. In April 2012, the school was approved funding for the purchase of an additional temporary mainstream classroom. In December 2012, the Department approved further funding for an extension of the existing staff room and resource teaching room. These projects have been completed and all moneys have been paid to the school.

However, Scoil Naomh Éanna has experienced issues with wastewater treatment on its existing school site. In that regard, the school was authorised to engage a suitably qualified consultant engineer to address the problem, if possible, by installing an appropriate sequencing batch reactor. In December last, I facilitated and attended an on-site meeting between the Department, the school and its consultant on the matter. At that meeting, it became apparent that the existing site is too restricted to provide an appropriate wastewater treatment system and the additional permanent accommodation also under consideration. In that regard, it was also accepted that the option of extending the school site was not available.

To address the site limitations, the school advised in the course of the December 2013 meeting that its patron is willing to offer a greenfield site for a new school development. The Department acknowledged this offer and requested that appropriate details such as site maps be supplied. The principal has told me this information has been supplied. In addition, the Department sought that formal confirmation be supplied by the patron that the site concerned would be offered for development. On the basis of the information received by the Department on 16 January, the Department intends to have the site concerned technically evaluated shortly to determine its suitability for school development. In the event that no issues arise from this assessment, the new school building project can then be progressed into the architectural planning process. I do not expect any issues to arise as the proposed site is suitable, right in the heart of the village and adjacent to a newly developed car park.

I thank the Senator for allowing me the opportunity to outline the position on Scoil Naomh Éanna.

Lorraine Higgins (Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his response. Contrary to what he said, there is significant demographic growth in this area with an increase in the school’s enrolment from 39 pupils in 2000 to 187 pupils in 2013. I am critical of the Department's five-year construction programme and that there should be some degree of discretion to add schools to the list, especially in light of the situation in which Scoil Naomh Éanna finds itself.

It is critical the school's problems are addressed sooner rather than later. We cannot sit on our hands any longer. In 2007, the school’s situation was deemed to be a matter of urgency and should be addressed with funding put in place for a school building to be developed.

Unfortunately this has not happened, and seven years later matters are not improving but getting worse. This relates to the constituency of the Minister of State and he knows the area. We cannot allow bureaucracy to get in the way or slow down what is happening. We need to cut through the red tape and deliver a school for the people of Bullaun because it is the least they deserve.