Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Mar 1985

Vol. 357 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Mallow (Cork) Post-Primary Education.

Mr. E. O'Keeffe

A Cheann Comhairle, I should like to thank you for providing me with this opportunity to raise this very important issue. There is a crisis in the post-primary schools in Mallow due to the lack of available space. Mallow is one of the largest towns in my constituency. It was heavily industrialised until recently but, due to the recession, it now has the highest unemployment figure in my constituency. Unemployment in Mallow has risen from 450 in 1980 to 1,200 today. Hardship is being imposed on the people in the town and in the rural areas with an increasing number of children seeking post-primary education. This hardship is a serious indictment of Government policy in the East Cork constituency and especially in Mallow.

The situation in the two post-primary schools in Mallow is bad. The Patrician Brothers who have served the town of Mallow for quite a long number of years have accommodation for only 460 pupils. I understand that approximately 150 extra pupils are applying for accommodation in 1985. The Convent of Mercy have a better type school but they have the same problem with numbers. They have to turn away children from rural areas and deprive them of post-primary education. The two educational orders are highly embarrassed as they have served the community in the area for over 100 years. The Convent of Mercy and the Patrician Academy are very close to each other and I understand they are prepared to share facilities which is further proof of their commitment to the Department. The local authority facilities of a swimming pool and playground are quite near and the Patrician Academy are making a free site available to the Department. They are prepared to make the mother house available to be converted to a school complex.

I understand that the sanitary and toilet facilities are absolutely scandalous. There are facilities for only half the number of pupils and the overcrowding is absolutely ridiculous and is causing great hardship to pupils and teachers. The total amount of floor area required in the Patrician Academy is in the region of 20,000 feet. Plans were lodged in the Department in January 1984 but the Minister is continuing to drag his feet. I have asked written and oral questions and I have written to the Department, but no great commitment has been given by the Department.

I am rather disappointed that the Minister does not believe that the problem facing these schools are serious. All possible co-operation has been forthcoming from the Convent of Mercy, the Patrician Academy and the parents associations to facilitate the pupils in the area and the Department. It is now the Minister's turn to come to their aid and to approve the money to build and expand the Patrician Academy and to get rid of its derelict and prefabricated building. The same applies to the Convent of Mercy. These two schools are deserving of the Minister's support. On behalf of the parents and pupils of the Mallow town catchment area I appeal to the Minister to provide the necessary funding. We must not neglect these pupils. We do not want them to become disillusioned and despondent in these times of great economic pressure and lack of Government policy to provide jobs for our people.

Substantial sums of money have been collected by the Convent of Mercy in voluntary subscriptions. I have with me a number of letters I received from parents. One letter refers to a site of 2.9 acres. They have sports fields of approximately four to five acres. It refers to the present building being a "brothers' monastery and four rooms of old national school — over 100 years old; a building containing five classrooms built in the forties; a prefabricated unit containing six classrooms, one staffroom, two offices built in 1963; three small classrooms built in 1972, a bicycle shed underneath converted into three classrooms recently". That highlights the seriousness of the situation. Deputy Hegarty and Deputy Barry are well aware of this problem. It is stated in that letter that the school roll went from 250 in 1970 to 480 in 1984-85.

I asked a parliamentary question on 6 March 1985 and afterwards I saw a headline in a newspaper "£1m for school". We have not seen that £1 million yet. In another letter I received it is stated:

As you are aware, the number of pupils seeking admission to this school is increasing each year. It has now arrived at the stage that I feel I am doing an injustice to the pupils each year by accepting all applicants.

The existing building was planned to accommodate 400 pupils, but this year there are 580 children on the roll. If I were to accept all that would apply next year the numbers would be 610-620. There is absolutely no way that we can cater for that number of pupils under the present conditions.

We have just one Science Laboratory and 400 pupils wishing to do the subject...

This letter refers to the Convent of Mercy. It goes on:

Every effort is being made to do the best we can in the present circumstances: classes being held during the lunchtime and after 4.00 p.m., but even at that not all pupils are able to have the practical experience these subjects require...

...The school has certainly reached saturation point now and I need to know at this stage what the present position is in regard to the extension to the school. We are only asking here for what is urgently needed to provide the best education we can for Mallow girls. The need for this extension is obvious, and the local people's support is evident in that they have raised the local contribution of £50,000 in little over twelve months.

I am awaiting an immediate reply.

I had a letter from the Minister dated 1 August 1984 in which he said:

I wish to refer again to your representations regarding the proposed extension of the Patrician Academy, Co. Cork.

The position is that it is proposed to develop this school to cater for 475 students overall. In order to assess the accommodation needs of the school, and the extent and range of the new accommodation to be provided, the school Manager has been invited to complete an Educational Work Sheet, showing in full the curriculum needs of the students. When this document has been received and agreement reached with the school authority, arrangements will be made to hold a meeting in the Department between the school's design team and officers of the Department to initiate the architectural planning of the project.

We should cut out the red tape and get on with the job of developing these post primary schools. We are talking about a large rural area with a growing population. Many more students will be coming on stream in the coming years. I hope the Minister will cut out the red tape and get on with the planning stage and put the building up for tender.

Miss M. Barry

I welcome this opportunity to place on the record of this House my serious concern about post primary education in Mallow town as it exists today. On numerous occasions I have been in touch with the Minister and previous Ministers about this appalling situation. Mallow is a very big town with a population of 9,000 to 10,000 people. It has a huge catchment area.

Mallow at present has two secondary schools, the Patrician Academy and the Mercy Convent, and conditions in both schools are appalling. There is a cliché, "Cherish all the children of the nation equally". That certainly is not the case in Mallow town and hinterland. The people there pay their taxes, their levies, their charges, but they are not being treated as the other taxpayers are. They have been looking for two schools for many years. The facilities are not there. The Patrician Academy building has tin walls. I do not know how any teacher can teach there — I certainly could not. One can hear the noise of the different classes at the same time and there are no toilet facilities. The schools are almost falling down around them. Very little progress has been made over the last number of years. In the Mercy Convent the teachers are obliging the pupils by having classes after 4 p.m. but, unfortunately, some of the children cannot avail of these because they must catch the school bus home.

An Ceann Comhairle

Would Deputy Barry please end?

Miss M. Barry

I appeal to the Minister to treat with urgency the cases of the Mercy Convent and the Patrician Academy in Mallow. I do not know of anywhere in this country where such appalling conditions exist and I would not like this to be the case ever again. I ask the Minister to plan and to get on with the development of these schools.

An Ceann Comhairle

The Minister must get an opportunity to reply.

Miss M. Barry

The projected figures are not catered for and there is need for an overall development in this area.

Minister of State at the Department of Education (Mr. Creed)

The question of the provision of improved post primary facilities at Mallow has been receiving careful examination in my Department for some time. There are three post-primary schools in this town, the Patrician Academy, the Convent of Mercy secondary school and the vocational school. Each of these schools has applied for capital grants towards the cost of additional or replacement accommodation and for improved facilities. The examination of the individual and collective needs of the three schools has been carried out with a view to making accommodation and educational improvements through effective and cost-efficient use of available resources, taking care at the same time that we avoid duplication and waste in the allocation of capital and current resources.

It has been decided that the three schools may proceed on an individual basis. The Patrician Academy will provide 475 places overall and the Convent of Mercy will provide 550 places overall. These two schools will be grant-aided in the construction of extensions to assist in their development. A new vocational school is being planned on a new site. This school will provide 425 places overall. As regards the vocational school, approval was given originally for the development of this school to cater for 500 students overall. Subsequently, as a result of representations made by the County Cork Vocational Education Committee and after due consideration, it was agreed that the number of places to be catered for in the school would be raised to 550. The planning of an extension to the school commenced and progress was made to the point where the developed sketch scheme for the project, submitted by the committee, was approved and the committee requested by my Department to submit the working drawings.

This stage, however, was never submitted, as meanwhile the committee requested that instead of an extension, a new school be built on a new site which the committee had acquired. The committee supported their request with a report on the situation in Mallow. However, as the structural condition of the existing accommodation was satisfactory in that it was still usable, the committee were asked to prepare a feasibility study, comparing the options of either building an extension to the existing structure, or of building a new school on a completely new site.

When the feasibility study was received the Department carried out a full evaluation of the situation, examining the educational, technical and financial aspects of the options. The result of the evaluation was that the Department agreed, in November 1982, that a new vocational school should be planned. Meanwhile the committee requested the potential enrolment figures be raised to 600 places. However, the Department's examination of this request found that 425 places would be sufficient initially, as the indications were that enrolment was decreasing at the school. The committee agreed to this matter. Agreement was also reached on the range and extent of the accommodation to be provided in the new school. Architectural planning of the new school was initiated in December 1984, at a meeting in the Department with the chief executive officer for the County Cork Vocational Education Committee and the committee's design team.

Mr. E. O'Keeffe

We are satisfied with that, but what about the Convent of Mercy and the Patrician Academy?

Mr. Creed

The next step, the formal submission of an outline sketch scheme, has been taken by the committee. The relevant documentation was received in the Department on 19 March and is now under examination.

I am here to reply to a question on the alleged failure of the Government to provide adequate post-primary facilities in Mallow raised by Deputy O'Keeffe and I am dealing with that matter.

An Ceann Comhairle

I want no more interruptions.

Mr. Creed

The planning of the extension of 546 square metres to enable the Convent of Mercy secondary school to provide for 550 overall has now reached stage 4 of the planning procedures. This stage, recently received in the Department is at present under examination. The next stage will be the invitation of the bills of quantities. When the examination has been completed and the documentation found to be satisfactory, the committees will then be advised on the preparation of the bills of quantities and the other contract documentation.

The number of places approved initially for the development of the Patrician Academy in Mallow was 400. This was subsequently increased to 475 in the expectation that the intake in the academy would remain at about 100 per annum in future. The planning of an extension to enable the school to cater for 475 students overall had reached outline sketch scheme stage when, in September 1983, the school authorities, through their new manager, expressed reservations regarding development by way of extension. The existing school is 150 years old and they proposed a new school on a new site. However, having failed to locate a suitable site, they have now proposed a revised extension plan which would allow for the construction of new accommodation and would also utilise their private residence for teaching purposes. This has been under consideration in my Department.

A meeting was held on 4 March 1985 to clarify the accommodation requirements of the school and the future use of the existing buildings, including the monastery. A schedule of accommodation was issued to Brother Simeon on 21 March 1985. On Monday, 25 March, Brother Simeon rang the Department requesting a further meeting to clear up a few details. This meeting has been tentatively arranged for Friday, 29 March.

When agreement has been reached of the accommodation question, arrangements will be made to hold a briefing meeting in the Department with the school's design team to initiate the architectural planning of the project. It is considered that the enrolment potential of the Mallow centre will be well served when the proposed building programme for these post-primary schools has been implemented.

I have received a number of deputations from the Patrician Academy in Mallow. They visited my house and I have arranged meetings with the officials in my Department. There was quite a lot of indecision, not on the part of my Department. Agreement was being reached on the future of the three schools in question. I hope these schools will now proceed and that the Convent of Mercy, the County Cork Vocational Education Committee and the Patrician Academy will know what exactly they want and that there will be no further interruptions in the provision of these schools. I did not in my time build too many pre-fabricated schools. They were there before my time. They were an extremely bad investment, not alone in Mallow but in other areas. Mallow is not, at post-primary level, the worst centre. There are many more areas needing immediate attention. This is what we are trying to do with the resources available to us. As far as Mallow is concerned, any delay is not the responsibility of my Department.

The Dáil adjourned at 10.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 27 March 1985.