Victor Boyhan (Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I take it that the Senator is sharing time.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Senator Buttimer, if that is okay?

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for community development and charities. I also thank him for taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister. We are requesting an update from the Department of Rural and Community Development on how we can support open access to school buildings after hours for communities and youth organisations through the CLÁR programme or other measures.

It is very important to note that we have a ready-made network of school buildings and we have infrastructure that is not being used after the school day finishes. How do we prioritise and ensure the CLÁR programme can be used to make sure that there is more access after school hours? The facilities include community spaces within the schools such as halls, playgrounds, Astroturf, basketball courts. There has been significant investment in recent years in school buildings across the country, and more is needed.

We need to consider how we can ensure maximum usage, particularly in our smaller towns and villages, where there is not a large amount of choice when it comes to community or public spaces. Our colleague, Deputy Stanton, is championing the use of school building and facilities outside of school hours. As Fine Gael's education spokesperson, I support increased accessibility to these facilities, especially after the period of lockdown. I would like to see how all age groups could use it, not just young people. We need to think about rolling out evening courses through our educational training boards, ETBs, for digital or literacy training.

I understand there can be insurance, staff or other financial concerns for principals and school boards of management. Under the CLÁR programme, in the context of the Minister of State's and the Minister's portfolios, how can we support schools to increase access? Will the Minister of State provide an update? Can this be made a prerequisite of the CLÁR programme?

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I commend Senator Dolan and Deputy Stanton who have been championing the after-hours use of school buildings. In addition, could we give further consideration to the use of higher education facilities, for example, universities or institutes of technologies? The reality is that the usage of our school buildings and associated facilities, outside of school hours, would benefit and empower and enhance all our communities. As a former director of adult education and having been involved with my community association, I understand the importance of community, as the Minister of State does. The State is spending billions of euro in a multiplicity of Departments. I would also include the RAPID programme in addition to the CLÁR programme, which Senator Dolan referred to.

The Minister of State referred to "community value" in his reply to Senator Lombard. It could bring added value to communities. I would love if the State had an inventory of the money we are spending on schemes and, in tandem with that, if we looked at the number of community buildings lying idle such as schools, as in this case and in the summer time. We could enhance and enrich the lives of many young people, in particular, across all communities.

This is an important debate that we need to have. It is a measure that could add value to our communities. Having spoken to many organisations, the issue of insurance is a concern. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, and before him the former Minister, Michael D'Arcy, made changes to insurance. There comes a point when we have to take on the insurance companies, and we cannot use that as the reason not to. There are patrons and bodies in schools, ETBs and so on, that are willing to come on a journey with us in that regard. I hope the response of the Minister of State will be a positive one. I thank Senator Dolan and Deputy Stanton for their work on this to date.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators Aisling Dolan and Buttimer for raising this important matter. Schools are valued in their communities and not just from an education perspective. They sustain rural populations and are often viewed as an indicator of how an area is faring. They also provide a vital link for sports and social activity.Schools play a wide role in their communities and many schools make their facilities available outside of school hours for a variety of different uses and users. Schools are often the centre of sustainable communities and there can be mutual benefits in building links with the local community. Many schools recognise this and make their facilities available outside of school hours for a variety of community and other activities.

As the Senators may be aware, the policy of the Department of Education is that school premises and facilities should be used for community and recreational purposes, where possible. In October 2017, following consultation with the relevant school authorities, the Department published the document, Guidelines on the use of School Buildings outside of School Hours. The purpose of these guidelines is to provide information for schools on the use of school buildings outside of school hours and for those schools that are considering putting such arrangements in place. Any decision to make school facilities available lies with the relevant trustees or property owners, having regard to the requirements of the school, staff and students.

I very much encourage schools to seriously consider making their facilities or premises available to the wider community if they are not already doing so. I recommend that schools study the guidance provided by the Department of Education as it provides a good framework and list of topics to be aware of when a school opens to the wider community.

As regards the CLÁR programme, it funds a range of measures to be delivered by schools and communities, including for the enhancement or development of play areas and multi-use games areas. The CLÁR programme provides funding under a number of different measures for small-scale infrastructural projects in designated rural areas. Under measure 2 of CLÁR 2021, €2.3 million in funding was provided to support outdoor community recreation facilities, including playgrounds. Many of these were located on school grounds. This year's programme was launched on 24 February last with a total budget of €7 million, an increase of €1.5 million on 2021. It provides for an updated measure which will support a variety of capital interventions that contribute to community recreation facilities. It again covers playgrounds and multi-use games areas that might be located on school grounds, although it does not fund works to school buildings that are still in use as schools. The conditions attached to the CLÁR programme require that such facilities be available for wider community use. Many schools in CLÁR areas are willing to make their playground facilities available for community use and have received support under the programme on that basis. The objective is that these facilities would be available to local families and visitors to the area.

I discussed this topic in the Dáil last week and have also written to the Minister, Deputy Foley, on the issue. I will continue to work with colleagues to see how we can support schools to become accessible where required.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This is crucial. The Minister of State mentioned in his response that schools are encouraged to make their facilities available for wider community use but we need something stronger to provide that where boards of management face challenges in that respect, we will engage with them to find out why school facilities are not being made available in certain areas. The Minister of State will note from the CLÁR funding area maps that the CLÁR areas are dependent on district electoral divisions, which are based on the Pobal deprivation index. It is mainly in the west and north west, with certain other pockets around the country, as the Minister will note when he looks at the map. These areas do not have access to a wide variety of public facilities or much choice. If there are areas where this initiative has not been successful and we are funding it through the CLÁR programme, particularly for community facilities, I ask that the Department provide an update on the reasons they are not being used.

In respect of the report that came back from the Department on funding, is it clear that the school facilities are being opened for after-hours access. I apologise to Senator Buttimer as I am not sure if he will have a minute or only a few seconds to contribute further.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I thank Senator Dolan for her work. I also thank the Minister of State for his reply. I commend him on his commitment to community development, not only in his brief as the Minister of State but prior to that. Sometimes Ministers who come into office have no feel for the Department for which they are responsible but in the case of the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, he definitely does.

The clue to the answer to our request in this Commencement matter is in the Minister of State's reply. We are creating sustainable communities. This ongoing development will hopefully lead to sustainable community development. The Minister of State mentioned that guidelines have been in place since 2017. The advent of public private partnership involvement with schools adds a challenge. I hope we can develop this initiative and move it forward because it is one that makes sense. I thank Senator Dolan again for her work.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their kind comments. It is important to thank schools that are opening up their facilities and to acknowledge they are doing this. There is bit of work and an element of risk involved in doing that and we should thank them for it. I reiterate my request for other schools to seriously consider doing this. As I said, I have written to the Minister for Education and suggested we open up an engagement. We could consider the guidance document and perhaps it could be reviewed and reissued. I am also open to other ways of supporting schools that are not opening up their facilities to do so. There may be potential particularly in the education and training board, ETB, area. Other schools are privately owned so the ETB schools may give us more options. This is certainly an area I am committed to working on and I look forward to receiving a response on it from the Minister, Deputy Foley.

Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that response and thank the Minister of State.