I am delighted that the Minister for Agriculture and Food is here as she has a great interest in and knowledge of the region in question. I seek to ascertain when the major development at Elphin community college will be approved to go to tender. Elphin has a proud record of second level education for many years. Its first school, the Bishop Hudson Grammar School, opened in 1869. Up to the late 1960s the town had three second level schools. We now have only one second level school, which cannot operate to its full potential. The school is in the unique position of being the only second level school in the school building programme of the Department of Education and Science, which operates on a split campus. From a health and safety point of view it is deplorable that the students and teachers must trek 0.4 of a mile to get from one building to the other. We need to provide accommodation for students on a single site and eliminate the problems associated with having to travel between school premises 0.4 of a mile apart.
This school is the lifeblood of the Elphin community. I ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food to provide clarification as to how decisions are made regarding schools in band 3 being included in the 2005 schools building programme. This school is unique. Education has been part and parcel of the life of Elphin going back to the days of Oliver Goldsmith, who was educated in Elphin. Bishop Hanley, the former Bishop of Elphin, was also educated there. I could give many names of people who received tremendous education in Elphin, particularly at the Bishop Hudson Grammar School, which amalgamated with the vocational school in the 1960s. The school has 116 pupils and 14 staff, including the principal. It offers a full curriculum of second level education in a very difficult situation. I visited the school last December; it has a tremendous atmosphere despite the conditions under which the teachers are working. The relationship between staff and pupils is excellent and the school has a great record of achievement.
As a parent, the Minister for Agriculture and Food will appreciate that carrying schoolbags 0.4 of a mile from one building to another on a wet, windy, cold, miserable day is not acceptable. I cannot understand the numerous letters sent by the Department of Education and Science indicating the building project is at an early stage of architectural planning. Representatives from the school met former Ministers for Education and Science, Deputies Martin and Dempsey. They have lobbied the Taoiseach, Ministers, Deputies and Senators and still the saga continues. We have a responsibility to provide quality education facilities to the families and children of Elphin. We are in the Border, midland and western area, which could not spend the funding allocated yet we cannot provide funding for this school.
I am asking the Minister for Agriculture and Food, as a member of the Cabinet and someone who has the interest of the west of Ireland and the region at heart, to personally intervene in this issue. It is not a matter of referring to these bands, which is a way of delaying projects. It is a matter of getting a Government decision to approve the building programme for the school as a matter of urgency to ensure that education can continue in Elphin and that the pupils and teachers are given proper facilities to work in good quality conditions, which we deserve in the 21st century. This school was initially built in the 1800s and conditions have deteriorated since then. I ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the Minister for Education and Science, who will be getting a full report of this debate, to give some hope to the people of Elphin that some light exists at the end of the tunnel and that approval for this project will be given sooner rather than later.
