I have given permission to Deputy Begley to raise the subject matter of Question No. 9 on today's Order Paper. The Deputy has ten minutes and the Minister five minutes.
Adjournment Debate. - Kerry School.
I wish to thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this matter. If I was unruly earlier today I wish to take this opportunity of pleading mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. The reason was the depth of feeling provoked by seeing a united parish in danger of being deprived of a little community centre which has become available.
Is the Deputy apologising?
Yes.
Well, I accept the apology. The incident is now closed. I hope that we will not have any similar behaviour in the future.
It is nearly Christmas, a Ceann Comhairle.
I was surprised at the Minister remarking, during the criss-cross earlier today, that there was a meeting a fortnight ago and that I was not there. The Minister should know, and if he makes inquiries of any of the garages in Castlemaine he can confirm, that the roads on the Dingle Peninsula were treacherous that night. Perhaps a number of the Minister's friends had their cars repaired in those garages as a result of the condition of the roads that night.
The Minister should also know that my interest did not start there. On 14 December 1979 the Minister wrote to me saying that following representations he had received from Tom Randles of Kilgarvan he was looking into the position to see if the old school in Kilgarvan could be provided as a community centre.
The Deputy should not name anybody.
(Cavan-Monaghan): This fellow would not mind being named.
The Chair minds him being named.
The Minister wrote to me again on 30 January 1980 indicating that there were some difficulties about the title and that he was not in a position to make a decision. Therefore the Minister was unfair today when he said that all this started with a meeting at Kilgarvan a fortnight ago.
I appeal to the Minister not to divide the parish. The GAA, the IFA, Macra na Feirme, the Youth Branch, and the Anglers' Association are all united with the parish priest in their efforts to have a community centre in the parish and they see the old school as an ideal location. It was always the practice of the Board of Works to sell off old schools, particularly in Kerry, to St. Brendan's Trust. The Minister knows well that St. Brendan's Trust still have an interest in the lease of that school. When the parish priest and all the organisations have come together in a united front the Minister should take the opportunity, coming up to Christmas, of giving them a Christmas present and acceding to their request. I would like to hear the Minister say quite positively that he will give the old school to the local community and put an end to the speculation there. It is known that certain individuals, who are very amenable to the Minister's party, have approached him and it is rumoured down there that those people are about to get the school.
The Minister has a golden opportunity now to give this small parish a community centre, a community centre that all the organisations that I have referred to will be only too glad to develop and which will do something positive for the parish of Kilgarvan. In this week before Christmas he should tell them that they can have the school for nothing and let them make their own arrangements with St. Brendan's Trust. I am quite sure the Minister's esteem will rise in South Kerry. When one Kerryman says that to another a person can be suspicious of it. The Minister has an opportunity to do something positive for the parish and he should put an end to the speculation and divisiveness.
The fee simple interest in Kilgarvan former national school is held by the Minister for Education. The premises were used as a national school until 31 August 1979. The Commissioners of Public Works were informed by the Department of Education in November 1979 that the premises were no longer required for school purposes. In accordance with normal practice the Commissioners then circulated all Government Departments to ascertain if the premises would be required for State purposes. The Department of Defence initially expressed an interest in the premises but subsequently indicated in August 1980 that, following investigations, they did not wish to proceed with the acquisition of the property.
In the meantime the Commissioners have notified the sport and youth section of the Department of Education that this property could be made available for the purposes of An Cospóir. The Kerry Diocesan Youth Council and the County Kerry Vocational Education Committee were approached regarding the possibility of the premises being made available to them, possibly for use by the local community. Earlier this month the Commissioners were informed by the Department of Education that the premises were not required by either of those organisations and that the way was now clear for me to decide on the best means of disposing of the property. Accordingly the commissioners were not in a position to dispose of the State interest in the property to any group before this time.
A number of local groups including Macra na Feirme, Kilgarvan GAA club, the IFA, the local Fine Gael Branch and others——
(Interruptions.)
——have made representations to have the property made available to them. A number of representations have been made on behalf of local people interested in purchasing the property and inquiring if the premises will be put up for sale by public auction or by tender.
It is with interest that I have listened to the Deputy pontificating on the sale of the school. Unlike Deputy Begley during his term of office in the Office of Public Works, I have, in the short time since it became apparent that the property was surplus to State requirements, examined all applications for the use of the property, including those of his own party and its members.
Specify them.
I am confident that following due consideration of those applications I will make a balanced judgment. Deputy Begley will, I am sure, remember and will not deny his record in this context while in the Office of Public Works. During his tenure there he was personally responsible for the sale by public treaty of five schools.
When the community did not look for them.
This occured during his last month of office and two of them were in his own constituency. There appeared to be little regard for community interests at that time. I understand that recently the Deputy had no time to attend a meeting in Kilgarvan and they did not believe him about the frost. When I make a decision I will do so on the basis of facts and merits and not in the interest of political expediency, as the Deputy did before he left office.