Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister was delayed by matters of state no doubt. However, he is still very welcome.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I very much appreciate the Minister being here to take this debate. I hope we can find a successful resolution to the issue at Burrow national school in Sutton, which I visited some weeks ago in order to talk to the principal and members of staff.However, the children are still learning in 20-year-old prefab buildings. In fact, one of the teachers, who is a teacher there now, is a past pupil of Burrow national school and remembers her own primary education taking place there. I want to raise the prefab replacement scheme, which was in place in 2011 and 2012. I seem to remember that the Department of Education and Skills invested in a scheme to achieve two aims, namely, to re-employ people in the construction sector who had fallen foul of the crash and to move children out of prefabricated buildings and ensure that as many as possible of the country's classrooms were permanent structures. Every child deserves to be in a permanent classroom. I am sure the Minister agrees with that. We do not want to see 20-year-old prefabs in any national school in the country. Can we work together to ensure that the children of Burrow national school have permanent classrooms and that these prefabricated buildings are done away with, so those children and the school's future pupils can look forward to a better future? It is a fantastic school that is doing a huge amount, but the children deserve more than the 20-year-old prefabricated structures in which they are learning. I would appreciate a positive response from the Minister.

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Tá brón orm go raibh mé mall ag teacht ón Dáil. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir fáchoinne an ceist. I thank the Senator for raising the matter, as it provides me with the opportunity to clarify the current position with respect to Burrow national school, Sutton, Dublin 13. Burrow national school is a co-educational school under Church of Ireland patronage. The current staff of the school consists of the principal, nine mainstream posts, two special educational needs posts and one shared special educational needs post. There are currently 226 pupils enrolled in the school. The Department has no record of an application from Burrow national school seeking funding to replace prefabs. I know the Senator is also making reference to additional accommodation. As he is aware, under the national development plan's framework for the period from 2018 to 2027, my Department has an envelope of €11.9 billion for education infrastructure over the coming decade. This represents a 70% increase in schools capital funding compared to the last decade, rising from €4.9 billion to €8.4 billion. Investment will rise to €1 billion in 2027 compared to €540 million of investment in 2018. The budget for delivery of projects under the school building programme increased from €540 million in 2018 to €622 million in 2019. Under project Ireland 2040 we have continued to make progress to increase our infrastructural capacity in order to meet demographic and other demands.

Construction activity in 2018 and 2019 will involve more than 130 large-scale projects, around 38% of the 340 projects on the list, and around 280 smaller-scale projects under the additional accommodation scheme. These projects will deliver more than 40,000 school places, including additional and replacement places; the replacement of more than 600 prefabs, which is a key element of our prefab replacement programme; enhanced sports facilities through the construction or modernisation of 48 PE halls at post-primary level; and 82 general purpose rooms at primary level. The enhancement and modernisation of PE facilities in schools will also facilitate community usage of these facilities. Construction will also include more than 200 modern science laboratories, which will support the delivery of the reformed science curricula and the roll-out of computer science as a leaving certificate subject. In addition, in April of 2018 my Department announced that 42 new schools would be established in areas of population growth between 2019 and 2022. The focus in 2019 is on start-up interim accommodation for the 17 schools opening in September 2019.

I wish to advise the Senator that since mid-2018 all schools approved for additional accommodation under my Department's additional accommodation scheme are also having all necessary prefabs replaced as part of their additional accommodation project. Therefore, it is open to Burrow national school to submit an application under my Department’s additional school accommodation scheme to address any immediate deficits of accommodation it may have, including the replacement of prefab accommodation. The application form is available on my Department’s website, www.education.ie.

I would once again like to thank the Senator for giving me an opportunity to outline the position to the House and I wish to assure him that should Burrow national school make an application under the additional school accommodation scheme, it will be considered and the decision relayed to the school authority directly.I wish to assure him that should Burrow national school make an application under the additional school accommodation scheme it will be considered and the decision relayed to the school authority directly.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his positive reply. I will make contact with the school and forward that information to it. I appreciate him dealing with the matter in the way that he has and I hope that as a result of his response and the school making such an application we can have a resolution to the accommodation issue at Burrow national school in due course.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is great to have a happy punter on our hands. I thank the Minister.