Deputy Dowling gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of Question No. 2 of 16th March last. In accordance with Standing Orders, the Dáil must adjourn not later than 9 p.m. Therefore, by agreement, Deputy Dowling may speak for ten minutes and the Minister for five minutes in reply.
Adjournment Debate - Ballyfermot (Dublin) College.
This matter arises out of the question of the 16th March in relation to Caritas College, Dromfin Road, Ballyfermot. I now wish to bring to the attention of the House the grave injustice that has been done and is being done to the many pupils in the Ballyfermot area as a result of the undue delay by the Department of Education in providing even the basic requirements for this college. I believe in equal opportunities in education for all children, and I accept that the new Minister for Education is as concerned about this issue as I am. Knowing that and that he is a reasonable man, I am sure he will accept that equal opportunities cannot be available unless there are equal conditions in relation to facilities, student-teacher ratio and other factors.
It is regrettable that in relation to equal opportunities the children of this area have been victimised. The enormous effort by dedicated and capable sisters and teachers to offset the disadvantages must be applauded. However, the effort and strain on both teachers and pupils must be depressing. Therefore, I would ask the Minister to give an unqualified undertaking that the necessary building programme will proceed without further delay and that the necessary finance will be available.
The requirements of the college are well known to the Department of Education. The essentials required immediately in order to minimise the injustices to the college and to provide equal opportunities to pupils in the area are a science hall, an art room, an all-purpose room, a room for remedial training, a career guidance room and suitable accommodation for staff and chaplain. I believe these are basic requirements. Domestic science is a curricular subject and should be available to all girl students who wish to pursue it. At present there are no facilities which would enable the subject to be taught even if pupils wished to study it. Likewise, senior cycle girls taking pure science as a subject have to travel to the vocational school which is a considerable distance away, thereby losing one and a half hour's instruction each day that this occurs. However, the vocational school must be praised for its co-operation. The position in relation to the art class is that the subject it taught in a redundant prefabricated building with no water laid on and students are obliged to carry water supplies in buckets.
I am sure the Minister will agree that this situation is most unsatisfactory. One of the major problems in the school is the need for remedial training and a centre, and additional remedial teachers above the present quota. I trust the Minister will give a clear indication of his acceptance of the validity of my case by giving a guarantee that the pupils of this excellent college will have equal opportunities with those of their fellow students in other schools.
I need not remind the Minister that the students studying under these enormous handicaps are expected to compete in examinations on the same basis as pupils with every modern facility, comfort and convenience. When examinations are being set the Department of Education do not take into consideration difficulties under which students and teachers in this school are operating.
Again, I would ask the Minister to indicate the date on which work will commence on the additional facilities required so urgently by this school and when I can stop worrying about the manner in which the daughters of my constituents are now being neglected. I could bore the Minister with statistics but I know his Department are fully acquainted with the situation. Only last night I and other members who represent the area were at a meeting in Ballyfermot for a considerable number of hours discussing this development problem and the erratic situation in relation to education in that area. The dedicated personnel have to devote some of their time and energies to pursuing avenues other than that of education, and this is doing the teachers and the pupils a grave injustice.
I would hope that we shall get here tonight a firm undertaking from the Minister that this work will commence at an early date so that no longer will the pupils of this school be victimised in the manner I have outlined. I do not hold the Minister responsible for the delay. He is a new Minister and I have found him to be considerate in all matters relating to the problems that have been presented to him. Therefore, I hope that in the near future the parents, teachers and pupils will be able to get down to the real problem of developing the talents of the children so that they can avail of job opportunities that arise, and so that when they enter the labour market they will be able to cope with the problems that confront them. We all know the difficulties that are there at the moment for young girls, the grave obstacles in their way, the fact that they cannot obtain social benefits when they leave school. They must go direct to employment, and they can only get employment if they are equipped educationally and otherwise for the opportunities that present themselves.
If we do not get a clear undertaking in this respect from the Minister, we shall be back to him again and again until such time as justice is done to this school and to this area and, indeed, to other areas in Dublin city and elsewhere where there are defects which must be remedied, some of them defects of long standing. However, blame-placing is no solution to this problem. Immediate and effective action is required to ensure that the lot of those studying in this school, and in the other schools in the area, is brightened by an immediate start on the work which is so essential to provide the teachers and sisters with the opportunity to educate these children under ideal conditions. Ideal conditions, nothing less, are good enough for any Irish child. There may be financial problems. A comprehensive survey has been carried out by a responsible organisation in Ballyfermot. Statistics are available. The unemployment rate is twice the national average. That survey, carried out recently, indicated that 23 per cent of the 1969 school leavers are still unemployed.
The Deputy is straying from the subject matter of the question.
In the area employment was affected by educational qualifications and qualifications were related to opportunities. If people do not get the opportunity to develop their talents to the full and to be fully educated, more and more will go on the ever-increasing dole queues. I would ask the Minister to indicate clearly the date on which this building will start and whether the finances are available in this year's budget for the development of the Caritas College, Dromfin Road, Ballyfermot.
This adjournment debate is taking place as a result of a question put down by Deputy Dowling on 16th March. The Deputy wanted to know when the first stage of the development of Caritas College, Dromfin Road, Ballyfermot, commenced and the date it was completed, when the second stage commenced, the date of its completion and the reason for the delay, when the third stage was likely to commence, the present plans for the extensions of the school and the areas that will get priority, and when the application was made for additional space to meet the ever-increasing needs. When I answered that question, unfortunately Deputy Dowling was unable to be present to ask supplementary questions. I told him that planning for the third stage of building has commenced and the meeting with the manager and her consultants will take place at an early date. I also said the third stage of building will comprise specialists classrooms and a general purpose area.
Something must have happened in the Ballyfermot area between last Wednesday, the eve of the national holiday, and this morning when Deputy Dowling gave notice that he would raise this matter on the Adjournment tonight. A meeting was held last night and, if Deputy Dowling was present, he must have heard Deputy O'Connell from the same area giving all the information which Deputy Dowling sought here tonight. Deputy O'Connell contacted me in my office yesterday and asked me for any details which would be helpful to him in answering questions at the meeting of the parents and the staff of the college. We gave all the relevant details and told him the time scale involved.
I presume Deputy O'Connell related all this to the people at the meeting last night. Perhaps Deputy Dowling was not listening. He may have been called out of the room to attend to some other constituency matter. A man as busy and as popular as Deputy Dowling has many calls on his time and might not be able to give his full attention to meetings concerned with schools in his area. Of course, it was his right to ask to have this matter raised on the Adjournment tonight. I am very happy to repeat here tonight the assurances Deputy O'Connell gave to the parents and teachers last night. I am sure Deputy Dowling will be glad to hear that Deputy O'Connell came to me this morning and asked me to receive a deputation from parents and teachers from the area. I was very happy to accede to that request.
I am very glad to meet deputations of this nature from specific areas, especially when I have good news to impart to them. A Minister is not often in the fortunate and happy position of being able to impart good news to deputations. I will meet that deputation next week. I do not know whether Deputy Dowling will be on it but, if he is, for the fourth time I will be able to give him the same information which he heard last night from Deputy O'Connell, which I gave in the Dáil last week, and which I am giving him again tonight. At the informal gathering in my room some day next week I will be happy to repeat the information again.
Inspectors from my Department have had consultations with the manager. The recommendation is that the addition of one arts and crafts area, one needlework classroom, a small special tuition room for remedial work and a dining and assembly area should be provided. The manager and her consultants will be coming into my Department in the first week in April to discuss the final details. After that, it will be a matter for her consultants to draw up plans and submit them to my Department. As I said, Deputy Dowling probably had to go out of the room when this information was being imparted to the meeting last night. We all understand the many calls on his time.
I did not leave the room.
Perhaps he was chatting to the person next to him, but it is funny that he did not hear that information last night. I am sure it was no fault of his. It was probably just a coincidence that he was talking to somebody else when this information was being imparted. If Deputy Dowling did not hear the information last night, and was not present last week when I answered the question, he is perfectly entitled to raise the matter on the Adjournment tonight and I am happy to give him the same information again.
Is the money available?
When he turns up next week on the deputation Deputy O'Connell has arranged, I will be very happy to give him the information again. The information is the same. Stage three of this building is going ahead. The consultants will be in my Department the week after next to arrange the details. The plans will be submitted.
Is the money available?
The money will be available and this building can commence with the least possible delay for the benefit of Deputy Dowling's constituency.
What does "the least possible delay" mean?
If possible this year, but as soon as I get the drawings I will give sanction for this work to go ahead.
The Minister will not be here next year.